AirPods and wireless Beats accounted for 40% of all recent Bluetooth headphone sales
According to a new report from Slice Intelligence, 26% of all wireless headphones sold online are Apple AirPods, with sister company Beats accounting for another 14.5% of all global sales, meaning Apple alone has been cashing in on 40% of the global wireless headphone market since December 2016.
With sales data suggesting Apple sold more wireless headphones on the day AirPods launched compared to all retailers combined on Cyber Monday, Tim Cook certainly wasn’t joking when he called the earphones ‘a runaway success’ while speaking to reporters when touring the New York Stock Exchange late in December.
Apple AirPods are ‘truly-wireless’ headphones, there are no connecting wires at all. Each earbud has its own battery and antenna and they communicate independently.
Each earbud has its own battery, lasting up to five hours of playtime. The AirPods charge in a (included) carrying case, for a total battery life of 24 hours usage. The AirPods know when they are placed into or taken out of an ear due to the inclusion of proximity sensors, allowing the music to be paused automatically when they are removed.
AirPods feature Apple’s W1 technology. This allows for automatic, seamless, pairing to iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad devices. The pairing configuration is automatically synced over iCloud so Apple devices will be able to detect the AirPods. The AirPods will communicate over standard Bluetooth protocols for any other accessories.