Even though the AirPods had a rocky start and the emergence of competing products, Apple is said to have dominated the wireless earphones market in the U.S.
According to market research firm NPD Group's Retail Tracking Service, more than 900,000 totally wireless earphones have been sold in the U.S since the beginning of the year. The Apple's AirPods have accounted for 85% of the dollar sales. NPD attributes the following factors to the market success of the AirPods:
- disruptive pricing
- brand resonance
- excitment over the W1 chip
NPD added that Apple's early domination of the wireless earphones category will raise the barrier of entry as competitors have to come up with differentiation in features, sound quality, or associated services and applications.
Apple's domination of the wireless earphones market is not entirely unexpected. In December 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook described the AirPods as "a run away success" for the company. In January 2017, Slice Intelligence claimed that the AirPods captured 26% of the market after launch. In May, Experian and Creative Strategies revealed that the AirPods achieved 98% satisfaction rate among its users. This is also the highest level of satisfaction for a new product from Apple.
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