In 2022, the recession of the global smartphone market is almost certain. On June 2, IDC, an international data agency, released a report that global smartphone shipments in 2022 are expected to decrease by 3.5% to 1.31 billion units. IDC analysts pointed out that the smart phone industry is facing growing negative impacts from weak demand, inflation, persistent geopolitical tensions and persistent supply chain constraints.
In fact, it is not only the smart phone market that has been impacted, but also the TWS earphone market, which has been expanding rapidly in recent years, is also facing the test brought by the general environment.
The overall growth rate returns to be gentle
Although the rise of TWS earphones originated from the release of the first airpods in 2016, the real explosive growth stage began in 2018, when the global TWS earphone Market shipped only about 50million sets. By 2021, this figure had soared to 310million sets. In just three years, it has increased by more than six times.
At the beginning of the market outbreak, the brand and the white brand industrial chain basically reaped a lot. Later, with the brand manufacturers' efforts to seize the market share and more active efforts to crack down on the fake white brand, the vast majority of small and medium-sized enterprises withdrew one after another, leaving Apple , Android and a small number of professional audio manufacturers continue to fight.
Although by far the biggest winner is still apple and its supply chain, the situation of making a lot of money has changed significantly since 2021.
As one of the main contract manufacturers of airpods, Tencent precision mentioned in its 2021 financial report: "after experiencing the strong demand of the industry / market and consumers for intelligent acoustic wearable products, in 2021, the shipment of the company's intelligent acoustic wearable products showed a significant correction, which had a phased impact on the company's year-on-year operating revenue and net profit of this business. It is expected that the development of this business module will gradually stabilize in 2022."
Not only that, in fact, the supply chain of Android camp also shows the same feedback.
On the evening of June 1, Furi Electronics announced that due to the fierce competition in the TWS earphone industry, the annual growth rate of the market scale has dropped sharply. At the same time, due to intensified competition, the gross profit margin of such products has decreased significantly. Therefore, the company decided to terminate the "TWS project" and permanently supplement the remaining raised funds with working capital.
In this regard, People in the industry said to jiwei.com: "The rise of TWS earphone market itself is driven by several first-line mobile phone brands. Therefore, the supply chain environment, the rules of the game of competition, and even the development process are like the epitome of the development of the smart phone industry. In addition, the product itself has too little space to play, and the whole industry has a shorter time to spend. Especially under the influence of the epidemic situation, changes in the global economic situation and other factors, the TWS earphone market has further accelerated the callback speed."
In this context, how will the competition of major brands change?
Each of the three camps has its own advantages
The above industry insiders pointed out that Android, apple and professional audio brands have their own advantages in the face of the current situation.
"Apple's advantage lies in its stable customer base and strong control over the supply chain. Since most of Apple's products have always been oriented to the high-end, the consumption capacity of the user base is relatively stable, the impact of the economic environment on these users may be weak, and the supply chain is highly controllable, so Apple has a strong ability to resist risks."
Perhaps the voice in the supply chain is not strong enough, but the stability of the user group is also a major feature of professional audio brands.
After the market entered the explosive period, some users had the mentality of "refusing to follow the crowd" and went the other way, pursuing niche and high-quality brand earphone products, such as JBL, boos, Sony, beats, etc. There are also some "enthusiasts" who are also loyal users of such brand earphones.
Although the shipment scale of brands may not have explosive growth, when the market is impacted by external negative factors, a stable user base may also be able to avoid a large-scale reduction in shipments to a certain extent.
"On the other hand, the Android camp has benefited from the fact that the products of all price segments of the Android brand have been fully launched in the past two years, especially the products at low and medium prices. Under the economic downturn, the majority of users are affected by inflation and other issues, that is to say, a considerable number of users' purchasing power will decline, which virtually creates a new round of demand for the products at low and medium prices of the Android brand."
In addition, the Android brand has made great efforts in the Shopping Festival this year, which also has the opportunity to stimulate users' consumption.
Based on the above, the TWS earphone market may still show a growth trend this year, but it has basically bid farewell to the peak period, and it is difficult to see such a high-profile situation as 2018-2021 in the future. Not only that, the focus of consumers' purchase may be inclined to low - and middle-priced products, which will further stimulate the price competition between the industrial chains, and the terminals and suppliers will be under pressure simultaneously.
Looking back on the past two years, based on the tight market, many enterprises have raised funds to invest in TWS earphone related projects for production expansion. At present, the market is no longer good, and these enterprises may also have the risk of declining capacity utilization, which increases the operating costs to a certain extent, and will also bring greater pressure to themselves in the above market environment. (checked by /lee)