Asia-Pacific Wireless Audio Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Asia-Pacific wireless audio market is expected to register a CAGR of 16% during the forecast period (2021 - 2026). The advanced features of wireless audio devices, such as portability, easy manageability, and remote accessibility for audio communication, have led to rapid growth in the adoption of audio devices.

Key Highlights

• Wireless audio devices have a significant influence on the customers’ experience, as these devices provide easy and quick audio transmission, wireless operation, etc. With the increasing demand for mobile services among customers, the market is anticipated to drive the wireless audio devices market.
• The major drivers of the wireless audio devices market are high expenditure on semiconductor for wireless devices, increasing requirement for mobility, advancement in technologies, and introduction of innovative devices. Moreover, owing to the well-established consumer electronics market and the growing population of middle-class consumers in evolving economies, like China, India, and Japan, are driving the market growth in Asia-Pacific.
• The increasing technological propagation and amalgamation of wireless audio device products with a vast range of applications, such as consumer, commercial, automotive, and others, are also the major factors driving the growth of the wireless audio device market. However, the high development cost of a wireless audio device is expected to hinder the market growth in the forecast period.
• The Asia-Pacific electronics devices market is expected to be impacted significantly by COVID-19, as China is one of the major suppliers for the raw materials as well as the finished products. The industry is on the brink of facing a reduction in production, disruption in supply, and price fluctuations.
• While this can vastly encourage local manufacturers to step up and address the growing demand, the scarcity of raw material can still pose a challenge to this industry. The sales of prominent electronic companies are expected to be affected in the near future.

Key Market Trends

Bluetooth Speakers to Witness Higest Market Growth

• The need and popularity of the wireless speakers bolstered the demand for Bluetooth speakers over the past few years. This trend can be attributed to the greater availability of these devices at affordable prices and the consumer preference for smart portable devices. ​
• With this rising demand for wireless speakers, Bluetooth technology has gained momentum in the market for speakers, globally. This is because the technology works with a wide range of mobile devices, including Apple iPhone and Android smartphones. Bluetooth speakers also tend to be less pricey than WiFi options.
• Moreover, in the Chinese market, the prominence of Bluetooth speakers has increased. According to Qualcomm, as of 2019, the Chinese consumers looked for better sound quality, ability to play at loud volumes without distortion, long standby hours on battery, and affordable price, and Bluetooth speakers fit best for these demands.
• Furthermore, the launch of Bluetooth 5.0 version enabled a new feature, which allows the user to play audio on two connected devices at the same time. In other words, one can play audio on two different speakers in different rooms. This is expected to boost the market growth for Bluetooth speakers.

China to Dominate the Market Growth

• China dominates the Asia-Pacific wireless audio device market. The Chinese economy maintains high-speed growth which has been stimulated by the consecutive increases of industrial output, imports & exports, consumer consumption, and capital investment. Moreover, increased R&D expenditure by OEMs for the development of new and advanced wireless audio devices is fueling the growth of the wireless audio device market in the country.
• Owing to the vast availability of resources and cheap labor, various multinational companies have also set up their manufacturing plants, thus making the country an ideal destination for multi-million investments in the field of wireless audio devices.
• Moreover, China is poised to be a leader, in terms of the volume of smartphones, with a 37% share, by 2018. This emphasizes the importance and growing demand for wireless audio devices in China.
• Asian countries, such as China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, have a significant presence of manufacturers of the raw materials used in wireless speakers manufacturing, who has experienced lockdown and disrupted the production schedules. The sales have been down as the lockdown in most of the global economies has been resulted in deliveries limited to essentials and has resulted in companies revising their revenue targets.
• However, with the resurgence, the Chinese market is likely to grow and dominate the Asia-Pacific wireless audio market as there is a surge in the global demand for infotainment devices and a rise in the use of wireless audio devices in the commercial sector.

Competitive Landscape

The Asia-Pacific wireless audio market is highly fragmented, and low entry cost in terms of capital is increasing the number of new entrants in the market. Some of the major players in the market are Sony, Samsung Electronics, Xiaomi, Bose Corporation, and Apple. Some of the recent developments in the market are:

• In May 2020 - Xiaomi announced its first true wireless earbuds, the Mi TWS Earphones 2 in India. The Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 have a semi-in-ear design to offer a comfortable fit and offers up to 14 hours of battery life with the charging case and up to 4 hours worth of listening on a single charge.
• In Feb 2020 - Xiaomi Mi launched Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker. Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker is quite light and compact, making it easy to carry anywhere and everywhere. It is compatible with both Android and iOS devices and connects via Bluetooth 5.0. The speaker has a frequency response of 20 to 20KHz. The 2,000mAh battery present in the speaker will give 20 hours of music playback.

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• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
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