All items tagged with Apple (179)
New Record for Smart Speakers As Global Sales Reached 146.9 Million in 2019
February 14, 2020 by audioXpress Staff

New Record for Smart Speakers As Global Sales Reached 146.9 Million in 2019

The global smart speaker market reached a new high in 2019 with sales of 146.9 million units, an increase of 70% on 2018, according to new research from Strategy Analytics. Amazon remained the leading brand with a share of 26.2%, down from 33.7% 2018. Google retained second place with a 20.3% share, also down from 25.9% the previous year. Chinese vendors Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi all increased their shares, while Apple remained in sixth place with 4.7%.
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The Road to USB4 ...and a New USB Audio Device Class!
February 7, 2020 by Joao Martins

The Road to USB4 ...and a New USB Audio Device Class!

This year, I was really looking forward to meeting with the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the support organization for the advancement and adoption of USB technology, and discuss their projects for the USB4 Specification, the really big, gigantic update story on that front (at least in consumer electronics) since CES last year. The USB-IF announced the publication of the latest and greatest USB4 specification in September 2019, offering a major update to the USB architecture that complements and builds upon the existing USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 architectures. This article was published originally in The Audio Voice 264 newsletter, February 6.
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52% of US Smart Speaker Owners Are Controlling TV With Voice
January 28, 2020 by audioXpress Staff

52% of US Smart Speaker Owners Are Controlling TV With Voice

75 million people in the US are now using a smart speaker, and more than half of them – 39 million – are using it to control their smart TV, video streamer or other TV device at least weekly. This finding comes from Strategy Analytics’ latest report, 2019 Smart Speaker User Survey – US Results, and is based on a survey of 1136 users of smart speakers carried out in July and August 2019.
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Virtual Assistants to Exceed 2.5 Billion Shipments in 2023
December 23, 2019 by audioXpress Staff

Virtual Assistants to Exceed 2.5 Billion Shipments in 2023

The market for virtual assistants (VAs) continues to illustrate strong positive momentum, according to a new report from Futuresource Consulting. Shipments of products supporting virtual assistants rose 25% year-on-year to 1.1 billion units in 2019, with the market on course to exceed 2.5 billion shipments by 2023. Apple leads the market in terms of products sold with support for its Siri voice assistant.
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Project Connected Home Over IP Created to Expand Smart Home Device Connectivity
December 19, 2019 by audioXpress Staff

Project Connected Home Over IP Created to Expand Smart Home Device Connectivity

Amazon, Apple, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance, announced a new working group that plans to develop and promote the adoption of a new, royalty-free connectivity standard to increase compatibility among smart home products, with security as a fundamental design tenet. The working group is named Project Connected Home over IP and intends to simplify development for device manufacturers by creating a new, open standard for Smart Home Device Connectivity.
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Global True Wireless Hearables Market to Grow by 90% to 230 Million Units in 2020
December 6, 2019 by audioXpress Staff

Global True Wireless Hearables Market to Grow by 90% to 230 Million Units in 2020

The size of the global market for true wireless earbuds and the emerging category of hearables is expected to reach 120 million units this year and 230 million units in 2020, growing 90% YoY, according to the findings of Counterpoint Research’s latest Hearables Market Forecast. The overall true wireless market is expected to grow at 80% CAGR from 2019 to 2022 with a similar growth momentum as the early smartphone market a decade ago.
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MEMS Microphones and Speakers Forecasted to Become a $20 Billion USD Industry in 2024
December 6, 2019 by audioXpress Staff

MEMS Microphones and Speakers Forecasted to Become a $20 Billion USD Industry in 2024

French market research firm Yole Développement just published its 2019 report on Microphones, Microspeakers, and Audio Solutions – Market and Technology Trends. The new report characterizes the main drivers behind the exponential growth in MEMS microphone applications and emerging MEMS speaker technologies, growth opportunities such as voice at the heart of new audio system applications, or the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the audio value chain.
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Global True Wireless Earbuds Market Reaches 33 Million Units in Q3 2019
November 19, 2019 by audioXpress Staff

Global True Wireless Earbuds Market Reaches 33 Million Units in Q3 2019

The true wireless earbuds market for 2019 is expected to reach 120 million units and global tech giants’ strategies focused on voice communication will help sustain the strong growth momentum. The size of the global market for true wireless earbuds reached 33 million units (USD 4.1 billion) in Q3 2019, growing 22% QoQ, according to the findings of Counterpoint Research’s Hearables Market Tracker (Counterpoint applies the term “hearables” loosely to describe TWS products, which the company’s report actually differentiates).
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Naim’s High End Network Streamers Add Apple AirPlay 2 and Siri Support
November 5, 2019 by audioXpress Staff

Naim’s High End Network Streamers Add Apple AirPlay 2 and Siri Support

British hi-fi specialist Naim Audio announced that Apple AirPlay 2 can be added to its ND 555, NDX 2 and ND5 XS 2 network streamers via a free over-the-air update. Apple AirPlay 2 enables advanced multi-room functionality and Siri voice control and, following similar updates to Naim Audio’s Mu-so and Uniti ranges, will now be available across the company’s entire family of music-streaming products, including its $20k flagship reference network player.
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Apple Reveals new AirPods Pro with Active Noise Cancellation
October 28, 2019 by audioXpress Staff

Apple Reveals new AirPods Pro with Active Noise Cancellation

In another product announcement that didn't go as planned, following a lot of rumors and leaks coming from China, Apple was forced to unveil its latest addition to the AirPods family. As widely anticipated, the AirPods Pro have a new improved design, combining a slightly similar shape to the original loose-fit design, but slightly twisted to support a silicon in-ear tip, in order to make Active Noise Cancellation effective. The all-new lightweight design is now available.
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