A few weeks ago, a report by The NPD Group, a market research company specializing in retail tracking, made waves saying that Bluetooth headphones sales in the United States had surpassed wired headphone sales for the first time in June 2016. That is only half the story though. According to NPD’s sales data, Bluetooth headphones did in fact outsell non-Bluetooth headphones in terms of dollar value. However, as the report also points out, wired headphones still account for more than 80 percent of the market in terms of unit sales.
That may soon change though, as Apple unveiled a new iPhone without a 3.5mm headphone jack. Despite the fact that Apple will most likely offer a dongle that enables iPhone users to connect their wired headphones to the phone’s Lightning port, it is widely expected that Bluetooth headphones will receive a significant boost from Apple’s decision to scrap the headphone port. What a lucky coincidence that Apple owns Beats, the market leader for Bluetooth headphones in the United States.
This chart provides a breakdown of headphone sales in the United States in June 2016.