Sound Quality, Battery Life Top Headphone Purchase Drivers: Qualcomm

Sound quality remains a top purchase driver for headphones and speakers with features such as high-definition and high-resolution audio increasingly important as differentiators, said a September Qualcomm state of sound report. Sound quality tied with battery life as consumers’ top purchase driver for true wireless earbuds and wireless headphones for 51% of respondents, followed by price at 48% and comfort, 45%. Some 58% of respondents said they are likely to subscribe to an HD streaming service; 5% currently subscribe. Seventy percent of respondents said performance of audio accessories has an impact on their overall smartphone experience. Active noise cancellation was the highest ranked “rich audio” feature, while mobile gaming has accelerated in popularity, with 42% using true wireless earbuds for gaming across PCs, consoles and mobile devices. Gaming provides an opportunity for manufacturers to highlight very low latency and other gaming-related benefits in future products, it said. The most in-demand personal electronics devices are smartphones, smartwatches and true wireless earbuds, which may offer opportunities for hardware makers to create new consumer experiences as the use cases of the three devices converge, said the report, based on a May survey of 6,000 smartphone users ages 18-64 in the U.S., U.K., Germany, China, India and Japan.