Apple’s AirPods, the company's first move into wireless earphones, are selling really well online and are even taking a lead against Apple's range of wireless Beats earphones.
The AirPods were announced in September when Apple released details about the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus smartphones, both shipping without a 3.5mm headphone jack. They were released on sale in the UK in December after being pushed back from an October release date, and cost £159.
Read more: Apple AirPods review: better than previous iterations, but still a letdown
Despite the high price point and gimmicky look, which online commentators have taken Apple to task over, the headphones appear to be selling pretty well from Apple’s online store according to online shopping analyst Slice Intelligence.
Slice Intelligence's data shows that 75 per cent of headphones sold in December online were wireless. The day the AirPods were released, December 13, was the largest single day of online headphone spending for the whole of 2016 – bigger even than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when retailers slash their prices ahead of the Christmas period.
Before the AirPods were launched, Apple-owned Beats headphones were top of the wireless headphone market, with around a 24.1 per cent share, with Bose coming in second with 10.5 per cent. Once the AirPods launched, though, the market share shifted to Apple’s new product with a 26 per cent share, leaving Bose and Beats in its wake. It's interesting to see the new AirPods dominating over Beats; Apple paid over $3.2 billion (£2.6m) for Dr Dre's lucrative business back in 2014 and now it has stolen nearly 10 per cent of sales from its own product range.
And men are predominantly shoring up Apple’s stock when it comes to the AirPods. More than 85 per cent of AirPod owners are male, with millennials making up the biggest purchasing group; over one-third of the men who bought a pair.
When WIRED briefly tested the new headphones in September at the launch of the product, it found the new design to be a little awkward, albeit much more comfortable than previous Apple earphones. The lack of wires was found to be a bonus, though, as it reduces the weight and pull on your ears as you wear them.
It is worth noting that the data is only from online sales in the US. E-commerce data provider Slice Intelligence, measures its data from e-recepits, but doesn’t focus on in-store purchases. It could be a different story in Apple’s stores, however judging by how strong the sales appear to be going online, probably not.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
