WASHINGON: A new report by Future Market Insights (FMI) predicts that global shipments of earphones and headphones will reach 336 million units in 2016, up from 324 million in 2015. In terms of dollars, FMI said it expects the market to surpass $13 billion by the end of next year.
The FMI report segmented the global earphones and headphones market into five different categories: personal, gaming, media and entertainment, corporate, and sports. It said the demand for earphones and headphones for personal use is the highest, accounting for roughly $4.3 billion in revenue in 2014. And FMI estimates that revenue from the personal segment will surpass $5 billion in 2016.
Part of the increase in demand stems from the proliferation of music streaming devices combined with the increasing smartphone and tablet sales in Asia Pacific, the report said.
Demand is also strong in the corporate sector, according to FMI’s report—especially in the call center industry. In all, the corporate segment accounted for $3.46 billion in global revenue in 2014, and FMI predicts that it will see demand rise at a CAGR of over 5 percent through 2020.
Sales of headphones and earphones is primarily driven through multi-brand stores, single-brand stores, and e-commerce marketplaces, according to FMI. Multi-brand stores lead the way shipping nearly 117 million of the 313 million units sold in 2014.
The report predicts that sales through this channel will rise to 125 million by the end of 2016. The biggest growth opportunity, however, is in the e-commerce market, FMI said. By 2025, online stores will replace single-brand stores as the second-largest sales cannel in the global earphone and headphone market, the report predicts. Dive into all of the data from the FMI Earphone and Headphone Market study here.
