COVER FEATURE TRUE WIRELESS
we’ve recorded double digit growth for
over ten years, so this was a shock to
the business.
“There was a strong recovery
subsequently, with rapid growth
throughout May, June and July when
we surpassed sales for this time
last year. While our consumer audio
business has performed well, our
professional audio division continues
to struggle.”
Buying habits in the age of Covid-
19 have evolved signi cantly and
eCommerce, in particular, has seen
exponential growth and has replaced
physical retail channels – generating
the equivalent of the last decade’s
growth within just three months
according to research compiled by
McKinsey.
Digital media platforms have also
bene tted from the crisis, with digital
video, music, and gaming all seeing
spikes in engagement.
According to FutureSource, the
crisis has also caused sizeable growth
in the gaming headset market.
This increase in demand is linked
to growing numbers of consumers
using gaming as an at-home
entertainment option for social
distancing, in addition to consumers
purchasing gaming headsets for
working and studying from home.
While for Harman the consumer
audio market has seen the much
heralded ‘V’ shaped recovery, Rogers
remained cautious as to how things
could develop over the coming
months.
“When we talked about a ‘V’
shaped recovery we were thinking
that life would snap back to normal, it
hasn’t! We are facing a second wave
of the pandemic and while sales will
recover – we’re expecting sales over
the year to be up around 15 percent
– where the market goes in 2021 is
anyone’s guess.
“If we see another heavy
infection cycle then I think people
will look to retrench, especially
if the macroeconomic conditions
deteriorate.”
When it comes to true wireless
headphones, according to
Qualcomm’s research, demand has
surged over the past 12 months.
“Last year FutureSource was
suggesting that sales of true wireless
headphones would be ahead by
around 200 per cent this year. Despite
the pandemic they’re ahead well over
65 per cent,” said Rogers. “True
wireless is the most important current
trend in the headphones market and is
set to become the new form factor for
headphones in the coming year.
“There’s huge demand and a
massive shift towards true wireless
devices. Another big trend has been
improvements in interoperability
which has been a massive bene t
for smartphone manufacturers,”
said Rogers. “Harman is introducing
a range of new true wireless
headphones that combine powerful
sound and bold designs that will
include Active Noise Cancelling and
IPX7 sweat and waterproo ng that will
signi cantly improve the versatility and
performance of the earbuds. We are
also introducing our new Dual Connect
+ Sync technology which is capable of
pairing your device when the case is
opened, and each earbud connecting
immediately.”
Rogers makes the point that people
have more time to read, to exercise,
and to consumer different forms of
content.
“For a company like Harman it’s
not about the content, rather it’s
about enhancing that content and the
overall consumer experience.”
Conclusion
According to Qualcomm’s research the
shift towards wire-free, highly portable
headphones and earbuds is having
a big impact on what consumers are
looking to buy.
In its 2020 survey, user experience
and comfort joined sound quality and
battery life at the very top of what
consumers were looking for from their
purchases of audio devices.
While sound quality still matters
most to consumers, the data does
show that a broader spread of feature
interests are emerging – such as highresolution
audio, or noise cancellation
both of which have trended up
signi cantly, putting immersive
listening experiences on-the-go at the
top of consumer wants.
Consumers are said to be turning
to wireless earbuds in order to watch
TV, movies, and other video content,
making it the third most common use
case for these devices. Video calls
and mobile gaming are also rapidly
growing in popularity as well.
Using wireless headphones and
earbuds for voice calling is another
use case that is on the rise, and
means that preserving wireless voice
call audio quality will remain important
and could be used by manufacturers
in order to create stronger
differentiation between products.
While all types of wireless
headphones are used in an
increasingly diverse range of locations,
and true wireless earbuds are fast
becoming the form factor of choice,
a majority of consumers who were
surveyed by Qualcomm said that
they were likely or extremely likely
to purchase wireless headphones
or earbuds that offered additional
features, such as voice assistance,
tness biometrics, or hearing
assistance capabilities.
In future, tness or health tracking,
live language translation, mobile
gaming, and getting information
or directions from the Internet are
becoming more important wireless
headphone capabilities, with around
20 percent of consumers surveyed
saying they can see themselves
adopting these use cases.
“There’s a huge opportunity
here which is being driven
by consumer demand,”
concluded Rogers.
“I think true wireless is
certainly the next frontier for
the smartphone when it comes to
delivering listening experiences that
resonate powerfully and personally.”
“True wireless
is the most
important current
trend in the
headphones
market and is set
to become the
new form factor
for headphones
in the coming
year”
Dave Rogers
Below: Harmon is
introducing a new
range of wireless
headphones - the
JBL TUNE 225TWS
12 13 October 2020 www.newelectronics.co.uk
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