Vratislav Holub Apple boasted the first generation of wireless headphones back in 2016, when it was introduced alongside the iPhone 7. It was a fairly fundamental innovation with the aim of setting a new trend. But the paradox is that immediately after their introduction, the apple company did not receive much praise, on the contrary. At the same time, the 3,5 mm jack connector, indispensable until then, was removed, and many users also rejected the whole concept of wireless headphones. For example, there were concerns about losing individual headphones and the like.
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Pavel Jelic But if we move to the present, 6 years after the introduction of the very first model from the workshop of the Cupertino giant, we find that the community views AirPods completely differently. Today it is one of the most popular headphones ever, which is also confirmed by various surveys. For example, for the year 2021, Apple's share of the US headphone market a great 34,4%, which put them in the clear best position. In second place was Beats by Dr. Dre (owned by Apple) with a 15,3% share and BOSE in third place with a 12,5% share. According to Canalys, Apple is the global leader in the smart home audio market. Apple (including Beats by Dr. Dre) in this case take a 26,5% share. It is followed by Samsung (including Harman) with "only" 8,1% share and third place goes to Xiaomi with 5,7% share.
The popularity of AirPods
But now to the most important thing. Why are Apple AirPods so popular and what puts them in such an advantageous position? It's actually quite strange. Apple is at a disadvantage in the mobile phone and computer market. In the case of using operating systems, it is rolled by Android (Google) and Windows (Microsoft). However, it is ahead of the curve in this regard, which can sometimes make it seem like almost everyone owns and uses AirPods. This is exactly what works in Apple's favor. The Cupertino giant perfectly timed the introduction of this product. At first glance, the headphones seemed like a revolutionary product, even though wireless headphones had been around for a long time.
AirPods (Pro)
But the real reason comes with the very philosophy of Apple, which is based on overall simplicity and that its products simply work. After all, AirPods fulfill this perfectly. The Cupertino giant hit the mark with the minimalist design itself, not only with the headphones themselves, but also with the charging case. Therefore, you can playfully hide AirPods in your pocket, for example, and keep them safe thanks to the case. However, the functionality and overall connection with the rest of the apple ecosystem is absolutely key. This is the absolute alpha and omega of this product line. This is best explained with an example. For example, if you have an incoming call and want to transfer it to your headphones, simply put the AirPods in your ears. The iPhone then automatically detects their connection and immediately switches the call itself. This is also related to the automatic pause of playback when the headphones are taken out of the ears and the like. With the arrival of AirPods Pro, these possibilities were expanded even further - Apple brought active ambient noise suppression + permeability mode to its users.
Although AirPods are not the cheapest, they still clearly dominate the wireless headphone market. Apple also tried to take advantage of this trend, which is why it also came up with the headphone version of AirPods Max. It was supposed to be the ultimate Apple headphones for the most demanding listeners. But as it turned out, this model no longer pulls that much, on the contrary. How do you feel about AirPods? Do you think they deserve the first place, or do you prefer to rely on competitive solutions?
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Honestly, I have a second generation that I'm just dying for. After a year, one earphone is KO in an hour and the other one plays for another hour, sometimes they don't want to connect to the iPad and I have to put them in the box and take them out. Ever since I replaced my iPhone with a Fold 3, I normally use the older headphones from Philips on my head because the short battery life bothers me. Lousy volume. I don't have the earplugs, but the balls because the earplugs from all brands fall out of my ears and it bothers me that I can hear conversations in the neighborhood. The Philips headphones I have are already 4 years old and they still work compared to the Airpods which cost 3 times more and are noticeably worn out even though I didn't use them extremely. I never want not only Airpods, but no small headphones. It is not above the classic headphones that I don't need noise suppression to avoid hearing people and noise.