Headphones to Generate Nearly $21 Billion in 2018, According to Futuresource Consulting's Latest Headphone Report

The headphones market continues its recent trend of solid growth in volumes and substantial growth in revenue. Units are projected to grow 4.1% this year to 377 million, to generate retail revenues worth $19.9bn, a sizable increase of 27% y-o-y. Headphones continue to be a dynamic market, as average price growth is accelerated by demand from consumers for new premium features and form factors such as true wireless and noise cancellation, which provide further strong growth opportunities for the future.

Knowles Corporation announced that it has developed with Baidu and Bestechnic (BES) a new hands-free reference design for headphones, headsets and true wireless earbuds that works with smart devices powered by DuerOS, Baidu’s conversational AI system. The Knowles IA610 SmartMic supports the industry’s lowest-power, always-on voice wake capability to enable Baidu voice service on-the-go for ear worn consumer products.

Qualcomm was an early pioneer in the concept of true wireless stereo a technology that is designed to completely eliminate the need for wires, not only between the media source and the headphones, but also between the left and right earbuds, offering users a wire-free stereo audio experience and supporting new use cases like hearables. Now Qualcomm announced enhancements to its Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo technology.

SoundChip SA, a Swiss-based global leader in hearable sound technology, announced the introduction of its Waypoints platform, which combines proven methods, tools and expertise to help manufacturers scale the delivery of effective noise cancelling into more products within their headset portfolio than ever before. The new platform supports third-party NC chips in addition to SoundChip's own HD-PA devices.