Apple Drives 40% Of Bluetooth Headphone Sales

A new report from Slice Intelligence revealed how much influence Apple’s AirPods and wireless Beats are having on the fast-growing Bluetooth headphone market.

The answer? A lot.

According to Slice Intelligence’s data, Apple’s AirPods sales sold 10 times more on Dec. 13 than the entire 2016 average (pre-holiday). The AirPods launch also beat out online headphone sales on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, officially making Dec. 13 the biggest day of online headphone sales of the entire year, 9TO5Mac reported.

AirPods alone boosted the 2016 wireless headphone sales 50 percent of total online headphones sales and also increased December number to 75 percent.

But Apple’s AirPods aren’t the only products driving Bluetooth headphone sales.

Its Beats headphones had about 25 percent of the market in November 2016, the month prior to AirPods launching. It’s no surprise, though, that AirPods have since become the leader in wireless headphones by capturing 26 percent of the market, Slice Intelligence confirmed.

Between a successful AirPods launch and the steady popularity of Beats, Apple now maintains a significant 40 percent of all wireless headphone sales.

While the AirPods are designed to listen to music and videos, industry watchers believe the product will become so much more. According to a recent report by Seeking Alpha, Apple’s AirPods offer an innovative user interface that is controlled by Siri, Apple’s digital personal assistant.

“Apple leverages the fact that we are living in an increasingly mobile-centric world and introduces a product which, compared to the stationary concept of the Echo, better fits into the ecosystem of our multiple mobile devices accompanying us throughout the day,” Seeking Alpha wrote in the report. “AirPods increase the value of these products, unlocking new use cases, like turning a smartwatch into a highly portable and convenient music player or allowing for semi-private interactions with a virtual assistant while your smartphone is in your pocket.”