Apple retained her place as a global leader in the wireless headphone market in the first quarter of 2025, secured 18.2 million shipments and according to new data, captured 23.3% market share, Canalis,
Data suggests that Apple continues to dominate its hardware-software ecosystem, including its beats assistant, to dominate the market. Although its market share declined slightly by 24.4% in the first quarter of 2024, Apple achieved a 12% year-year increase in shipment, contributed significantly to the overall rebound of the global market. The total global TWS shipment increased to 78.3 million units- 18% annual growth marking, which is the fastest growth rate for the category since 2021.
While Apple continues to lead in established markets including North America, where it holds more than 50% market share, growth in emerging areas is being run by aggressive pricing and localization strategies from rival vendors. For example, Xiaomi gained 63% year-on-year growth in shipment, reached nine million units and crossed Samsung to become the second largest TWS seller globally. Samsung, which includes Harman Assistant Companies like JBL, sent 5.6 million units and staked a stake of 7.1%. Huawei and the Indian brand boat excluded the top five with 6.0% and 4.9% market share respectively.
The broad market ranks Apple in a favorable position away from the basic audio functionality towards the lifestyle and ecosystem, provided that it continues to expand its headphone offerings and desirability. Canalis attributed the renewed development of the US market to partially anticipated tariff changes for the inventory buildup, which inspired retail partners to stock up high-demand products, including Apple.
Canalis also highlighted the increasing speed of the Open-Eyer Wireless devices (OWS), a category that includes ear-hooks and ear-clip designs, aimed at merging audio techniques with fashion and listening to a more surroundings. OWS products currently look at traditional TWS devices in terms of audio fidelity, but Canalys stated that some vendors are working with audio labs to reduce the difference. While Apple has not entered the OWS segment, the trend towards lifestyle-oriented form factors can affect the future products of the company.
