Voice Speakers, Wireless Headphones Drove 28% Q4 Audio Rise, Says Report

Global Q4 audio sales surged 28 percent year over year to $10.2 billion, outpacing the broader CE sector, said a Futuresource report Wednesday. Home audio (33 percent) and headphones (24 percent) led sales increases over Q4 2015, said the research firm, citing smartphones and streaming music services as market drivers, fueled by Amazon Echo and Dot, the U.S. launch of Google Home and “widespread adoption of wireless headphones.” Echo and Dot sales accounted for roughly 30 percent of wireless speaker sales in the U.S. and 34 percent in the U.K., said analyst Zlata Jelisejeva. Despite strong overall category growth, many subcategories are beginning to “shrink or slow down rapidly," said Futuresource, putting some vendors in a “precarious position." Hi-fi systems, loudspeakers, separate components and soundbars were “among the losers” in 2016, said analyst Rasika D’Souza, with new technologies, software, content and fashion trends all contributing to disruption in the audio market. Apple’s redesign of the iPhone, eliminating the headphone jack, accelerated wireless headphone sales, with wireless representing 49 percent of Q4 U.S. headphone revenue, she said. In vendor share, Amazon moved up from fifth place -- the spot it held from Q1 to Q3 last year -- to the No. 2 brand in Q4, said Futuresource. In the “highly concentrated” wireless speaker space, a few audio brands account for nearly half of all unit sales, said D'Souza. Among brands, Bose, Apple’s Beats, Harman, Sonos and Sony are “jostling for position among the leading five spots,” said D’Souza.