Three rounds of wireless earphones, Samsung following Apple… Wearables are also’soundless war’

Enter 2021.01.14 06:00

Samsung Electronics unveils’Galaxy Buzz Pro’ at 0:00 on the 15th
Improved noise cancellation, expected to be equipped with ‘3D spatial audio’
Apple to launch second-generation AirPods Pro in April

The first half of this year Samsung Electronics (005930)And Apple are predicting fierce competition not only in the 5G mobile communication (5G) smartphone market, but also in the wireless earphone market. This is because both companies plan to unveil new wireless earphone models. In the industry, information on related products comes out before the launch, and a’silent war’ is unfolding. In the recent wireless earphone market, a key function is’noise canceling’, and both Samsung and Apple’s new products are expected to improve their functions compared to their predecessors.

Samsung Electronics will unveil the next-generation wireless earphone’Galaxy Buzz Pro’ along with the Galaxy S21 through ‘2021 Galaxy Unpack’ at 00:00 (Korean time) on the 15th. The Galaxy Buzz Pro is the third product in the Buzz series of Samsung Electronics’ wireless earphone model. Starting with the Galaxy S10 series and the first released Galaxy Buzz in February 2019, Galaxy Buzz+ and Galaxy Buzz Live were released one after another. However, in the wireless earphone market that has just started to grow, the Galaxy Buds series is less than the Apple’AirPods’ series.

Apple pioneered and popularized the wireless earphone market through AirPods. In particular, with the launch of’AirPod Pro’ with noise canceling function in 2019, it occupied nearly half of the global wireless earphone market.

An industry insider said, “Apple’s influence in the wireless earphone market is high enough to use AirPods at the risk of incompatibility even for many Galaxy smartphone users. As it did in the smartphone market, whether Samsung can reverse Apple in the future You will have to see it.”

In fact, Samsung Electronics is struggling to expand its market share by installing a noise canceling function for the first time in Galaxy Buzz Live, which was released in August last year. However, the results are sluggish. This is because not only Apple’s strong influence in the high-priced wireless earphone market, but also in the mid- to low-end market, several brands such as Xiaomi have expanded the launch of wireless earphone products.

According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, in the third quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics ranked third after Apple and Xiaomi with a 5% market share in the wireless earphone market. It showed a twinkling double-digit market share (11%) in the first quarter, but failed to rebound in the third quarter after falling back to 6% in the second quarter. However, the share of JBL, a brand under Harman, which is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, entered the ranking with 5%.

In the case of Apple, it fell to 36% in the first quarter of last year, 35% in 2 minutes, and 29% in the third quarter of last year.

The Galaxy Buds Pro, which Samsung Electronics releases against Apple’s AirPods, has been upgraded. In addition to improved noise canceling compared to the previous work, it is said that each earbud is equipped with three’beam forming microphones’ and supports ‘3D (three-dimensional) spatial audio’ function. This is a function that changes the volume of the sound according to the user’s movement, and is similar to the’spatial audio’ of AirPods Pro.

The battery capacity of the case is 500mAh, which can be used for up to 28 hours, and the unit playback time is 8 hours. Despite its high performance, the price is 230,000 won, which is cheaper than the AirPod Pro (about 300,000 won).

It is predicted that Apple will also release’AirPod Pro 2’along with the 3rd generation’iPhone SE’ in April to maintain the top position in wireless earphone market share.

According to information known to date, the AirPods Pro 2 will be redesigned to be slightly longer than its predecessor. The thickness of this case is 21mm the same as before, but the height and width are 46mm and 54mm, slightly different from the 45.2mm and 60.6mm standards of the previous model.

Bloomberg News predicted that the AirPods Pro 2 can have a round design without stems, like Samsung Galaxy Buds or Google’s wireless earphones, and can be released in models of various sizes for a better fit.