While Apple’s AirPods were initially mocked due to its somewhat unusual and somewhat funky design, the company’s wireless earbuds have since become wildly popular. Indeed, optimism surrounding Apple’s wireless division in general — a division which includes AirPods, Beats, and the Apple Watch — is a big reason why Apple shares have skyrocketed more than 50% over the last six months alone.
At this point, there’s no doubt that AirPods have turned into a legit money-maker for Apple. To this end, some analysts anticipate that AirPods will soon generate more money for Apple than the iPod did at its peak. That’s quite impressive for an accessory. We’ve also seen some analyst reports claiming that AirPods sales in 2019 were more than double what Apple saw in 2018.
While Apple doesn’t disclose AirPods unit sales, a new report from Strategy Analytics relays that the company in 2019 shipped nearly 60 million AirPods. That’s an impressive figure, to be sure, and we can only imagine that AirPods sales and revenue during the recent holiday quarter was boosted by the October release of the more margin-friendly AirPods Pro.
All told, the report claims that Apple’s AirPods currently enjoy a 54.4% share of the wireless earbuds market. And following very far behind are competing products from the likes of Samsung and Xiaomi. Revenue wise, Apple’s AirPods account for 71% of revenue in the wireless earbuds market.
Apple is poised to post its earnings report for the 2019 holiday quarter in about two weeks, and it will interesting to see how revenue from the “Other Products” category (which includes wearables,
Though the bulk of Apple’s revenue still comes from the iPhone, the ongoing popularity of Apple’s AirPods — not to mention the Apple Watch and Apple’s growing suite of services — proves that the company is well-positioned to thrive even in the face of stagnant iPhone sales.
