The headphone market - Spain (2023)

1.1 Definition and presentation

Headphones are devices that allow you to listen to music or audio tracks by placing them over the user's ears. There are several kinds of headphones (Intra, Supra, or Circum-auricular), and technological innovations have enabled the development of a whole range of headphones that are each time more effective regarding both audio quality and comfort.

The most popular brands in the Western world are Apple, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and Bose, and the market is growing at a dynamic rate. The size of the market exceeds 80 billion US dollars, and Asia-Pacific is the world's leading market with over 40% of the total. The market structure has been deeply altered by the arrival of companies specialized in the manufacture of smartphones (Apple, Samsung, Huawei, etc.), which have been able to cut themselves a path thanks to innovation into a market dominated by specialists such as Bose and Sony. The "wireless" innovation has been particularly revolutionary and has changed the market. Sales of these wireless devices rose by 27% in the first half of 2022 with Apple being the dominant firm within the global market.

In Spain, sales of headphones have also grown in recent years and the younger segment of the population has put an increasing emphasis on the sound quality of headphones, while technological advances (headphones with anti-noise options, amplifiers, etc.) have emerged to premiumize the market.