Headphone Revenue Expected to Jump 83% in 2017 on Advanced Features, Innovation

The mature headphone market has “pockets of significant growth,” said a Thursday Futuresource report. The wireless segment is driving revenue, increasing prices and fueling innovation of smart features, it said, with 2017 headphone sales on track to reach $9.5 billion, up 83 percent vs. the prior year. Consumers’ enthusiasm for wireless is driving sales of headphones with features including adaptive noise canceling and voice assistant integration, it said. By 2021, adaptive noise-canceling is expected to account for 28 percent of the noise-canceling segment, driven by demand for live translation and hearing aids, it said. Access to voice assistants in headphones is gaining momentum, with new products from Bose, Samsung and Bragi to launch in Q4, while low-cost proximity sensors have helped spur smart features in Apple AirPods and products from Bragi, Pioneer and Plantronics, it said. A challenge for manufacturers is to create products that satisfy consumers’ growing needs with simple designs, without compromising the user experience or duplicating the functionality of smartphones, it said.