Samsung is among the top three brands in the global true wireless earphones market. It makes some of the best TWS (True Wireless Stereo) earphones globally, and the recently released Galaxy Buds Pro is the only real competitor to the Apple AirPods Pro. It is being expected the South Korean firm will maintain its third position in the true wireless market by the end of this year.
A new report from Counterpoint Research expects Samsung to be the third-biggest TWS brand globally in 2021 with a market share of 7%. The South Korean firm is expected to ship around 21 million truly wireless earphones by the end of this year. That's a 30% jump from its 16.3 million shipments in 2020. The whole TWS market is expected to grow by 33% in 2021, and the shipments could rise to 310 million units (compared to 233 million in 2020).
Apple, which was the biggest TWS brand globally with a market share of 31% last year, could see its market share drop to 27% in 2021. It is being expected that the Cupertino-based brand could ship a whopping 83.7 million AirPods, which is a 17% growth compared to 71.3 million shipments in 2020. Xiaomi is expected to maintain its second position this year, with a market share of 9%. The Chinese firm mostly sells ultra-affordable TWS earphones priced below $100.
Samsung's own sub-brand JBL, could be ranked fourth in the global TWS market with a share of 4% shipments. JBL shipped 9.2 million truly wireless earphones in 2020, and it is expected to increase the number to 12.4 million. If we combine Samsung's numbers with JBL's, the former will be the second-biggest TWS brand in 2021.
Samsung is expected to launch the successor to the Galaxy Buds+ later this year, and it could bring improved audio quality and battery life in a similar design. There is currently no information about Samsung's intentions to launch the successors to the Galaxy Buds Live.
