IDC: Global headphone market shipments will reach 170 million units in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%

According to the IDC "Global Wearable Device Market Quarterly Tracking Report," it is reported that in the first half of 2025, the global ear-worn market shipment volume will reach 170 million units, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%. Among these, the shipment volume of open-type products accounts for 10.1%, with a year-on-year growth of 61.1%, leading the global market growth with their novel appearance and emerging conduction technology. Open-type products mainly include neck-mounted, ear-clip, and ear-hook styles. Among them, ear-clip products stand out with their exquisite appearance and unique wearing method, accounting for 41.6% of the shipment volume in the first half of 2025, with a year-on-year growth of 89.3%, making it the fastest-growing category among open-type products. Ear-hook products, which started earlier than ear-clip products, have attracted widespread attention due to their wearing comfort and stability, with a year-on-year shipment growth of 78.9%. Neck-mounted products primarily utilize bone conduction technology, leaning towards sports scenarios, and are the earliest developed form among open-type products, relatively mature and stable, with a year-on-year shipment growth of 6.0%. China and the United States are the two main markets for open-type products globally, accounting for over 80% of the shipment volume. Additionally, the Asia-Pacific and Western European markets are also rapidly developing as product maturity and user acceptance increase. The global open-type market is primarily dominated by Chinese manufacturers, with companies like Huawei and Shokz focusing on the high-end market; Huawei leads the trend in the ear-clip market, while Shokz holds a dominant position and first-mover advantage in the global bone conduction and ear-hook markets. Audio manufacturers such as Soundcore, Baseus, and Sennheiser are gradually penetrating from online to offline retail channels. The global open-type market mainly presents the following three characteristics: Diversification of players and China's dominance: The overseas open-type headphone market is still in a rapid development phase, with demand being released and the manufacturer landscape remaining unstable. China is the earliest and fastest-growing core market for this category, with Chinese manufacturers being the leading force in global growth. In the future, more Chinese audio manufacturers will increase their overseas efforts, leveraging supply chain, cost, and R&D advantages, combined with local overseas demand, to further expand their influence in overseas markets. Ear-clip and ear-hook development are on par: Unlike the Chinese market where the development speed of ear-clip products gradually surpasses that of ear-hook products, in overseas markets, ear-clip and ear-hook products each have their own demand and are still in a synchronized development stage. The demand differentiation among overseas consumer groups is more pronounced: ear-hook products are favored by sports enthusiasts due to their stable wearing experience, while ear-clip products attract users in daily commuting and office scenarios with their lightweight and unique advantages, each occupying a stable niche market The market still shows a two-tier development, with the open-ear headphone market mainly concentrated in two price ranges: below $50 and above $100. Products below $50 are mostly high cost-performance items that attract entry-level or trial users with unique appearances, serving as the entry point for the category; products above $100 are mid-to-high-end offerings that combine advanced technology, high-quality materials, and AI assistant functions. Manufacturers focus on acoustic performance, comfort, and intelligent research and development, targeting high-demand advanced users, which is also the core driving force for the technological and value upgrade of the category. This dual price distribution not only covers different consumer capability needs and reflects market maturity but also provides new manufacturers with clear entry points. Pan Xuefei, Research Director at IDC China, believes that open-ear headphones have grown from a niche segment of the ear-worn market into an important growth engine for the industry. The Chinese market has been the first to explode, driving supply chain maturity and laying the foundation for category scaling. Chinese audio manufacturers are accelerating their overseas expansion by leveraging the advantages of "new form + new technology" in open-ear headphones, which is expected to break through overseas barriers and achieve a leapfrog advantage, especially in developed regions like Europe and the United States. This may, to some extent, solve the traditional true wireless saturation and homogenization issues, tapping into brand premium and technological value space. In the future, the Chinese market will lead the global open-ear headphone industry with its first-mover and industrial chain advantages, transitioning from "scale expansion" to "high-quality competition," reshaping the market landscape for ear-worn products