2022 TWS Earphone Development Trend Prospect

2022 TWS earphone development trend prospect

TWS earphones are True Wireless Stereo true wireless stereo earphones, which completely abandon the way of wire connection on the outside, providing a convenient using experience. With the release of AirPods in 2016, TWS headphones entered an explosive stage. After several years, they still maintained a stable and high-speed growth, which led to the development of many related industry chains. At the same time, the product functions are gradually enriched, and the application scenarios of TWS earphones are constantly expanding.

In 2021, Apple released the third generation of AirPods, and the Android mobile phone brand further expanded its market layout, with products covering high, medium and low grades; in 2021, the price of TWS noise-cancelling headphones have been continued to drop, and active noise reduction has become a mid-to-high-end product. In 2021, the sound quality has become the key word of TWS headphones, and consumers' attention increased rapidly; in 2021, there were many functional configuration applications, providing a better user experience. There were also many new directions gradually revealed, opening up new directions for future development.

TWS Earphone Product Form

At present, most mainstream products on the market use a handle-shaped in-ear design to provide more space, carry more functional applications and larger capacity batteries, and bring better noise reduction effect. With the widespread popularity of TWS headphones and the increase in user usage time, in order to achieve a more comfortable wearing effect, semi-in-ear products will attract the attention of a large number of users in 2021, and major brands have also launched semi-in-ear products one after another that respond to user needs.

Open-type true wireless headphones are mostly designed with ear clips, which are fixed on the auricle, freeing both ears, further improving the comfort of long-term wearing, and improving the safety of outdoor use, but also because of the open listening, It is more susceptible to the influence of the external environment, and is mainly used in relatively quiet scenes such as indoor entertainment, office, and outdoor sports.

TWS earphone function

Different from traditional wired earphones, in addition to the convenient user experience, the other main difference of TWS earphones is the application based on the built-in battery, which enables it to carry more functional applications. In 2022, the functional application of TWS headsets will also be further optimized and expanded to provide users with richer application scenarios.

Sports health monitoring function application

In consumer electronic technology products, the sports health monitoring function is an important development direction for smart wearable devices. At present, this function is mainly used in smart watches/bands that are in close contact with the human body. Heart rate, body temperature detection, sports data tracking and other functions. In 2022, this situation may be broken, and TWS headphones will also be equipped with this function.

New Opportunities for Hearing Aid / Hearing Headphones

In addition to sports health monitoring, TWS earphone also include types of hearing aids / hearing aids in the field of general health. Through the integration with hearing aid products, they are used to help users, including hearing people, get better hearing in specific scenarios. Experience, classified as PSAPs (Personal sound amplification devices) personal assistive hearing devices.

The popularity of adaptive active noise reduction

Active noise reduction is a very important feature of TWS earphone products that greatly improves the user experience. With the release of AirPods Pro equipped with active noise reduction in 2019, TWS earphones have entered the era of noise reduction, and TWS will drop in the next two years. Noise-cancelling headphones have gained widespread popularity.

With the rapid development of the noise reduction function, in order to achieve a more comfortable noise reduction experience, many brand products currently support multi-mode noise reduction adjustment. High-end products also support the adaptive active noise reduction function, which can Changes in factors that affect the noise reduction effect, such as size, personal ear canal structure, and wearing status, automatically adjust the most suitable noise reduction mode to further improve the user's noise reduction experience.

AI call noise reduction comprehensive application

Voice call is the basic application of TWS earphone, and it is also one of the functions with the most usage scenarios. In daily life, voice call scenarios are relatively complex, including subways, public transportation, restaurants, cafes, and office scenarios. Therefore, in order to ensure clear call effects and privacy protection, the call noise reduction function is used. Particularly important.

Call noise reduction is different from active noise reduction, which provides users with a noise-free immersive audio and video experience, but provides a clear voice call effect for the caller. At present, TWS headset products on the market are based on different hardware configurations such as single-mic, dual-mic, three-mic, and bone conduction. Noise reduction processing is performed corresponding to different call noise reduction algorithms. Through the cooperation of software and hardware, the effect of clear calls is achieved. 

The sound quality has become the latest product grade distinction

Sound quality is the most basic function of TWS earphone products. With the rapid iteration of audio products, the number of products used by users increases, and the difference in sound quality that consumers can perceive is increasing. Therefore, the requirements for sound quality levels generally increase.

In the current TWS earphone market, with consumers' increasing demand for sound quality, brand manufacturers have also begun to make various attempts to improve the audio experience. Including acoustic configuration, sound cavity structure optimization, high-definition audio decoding, rich preset sound effects, spatial audio, and joint audio tuning with technical accumulation.

In 2021, there will be a phenomenon, such as OPPO, Xiaomi, Samsung and other brand manufacturers, when laying out the sinking market of flagship products, the active noise reduction function is retained, but the audio experience is reduced, such as changing the sound unit configuration, canceling Joint tuning, high-definition audio decoding, and special audio functions.

There may be many reasons for this, the most important of which is the perception of functional experience. Unlike HiFi earphones, TWS earphones are aimed at consumers who have high demand for sound quality, but are aimed at the general public. Therefore, most users have a large gap in the perception of active noise reduction and sound quality, and user experience determines product direction.

Fast charging and wireless charging improve battery life experience.

Compared with traditional wired earphones, TWS earphones abandon the shackles of wires and provide a convenient wireless connection, but at the same time, it also brings about the problem of battery life anxiety. And with the continuous enrichment of product functions and the increase in power consumption, higher requirements are put forward for product battery life.

At present, the functions of mid-to-high-end products are mainly solved by fast charging and wireless charging. Quickly replenish the power through fast charging, reducing the impact of short battery life; wireless charging improves the convenience of charging the earphones. When the earphones are not in use, place the charging box on the charging board, and recharge the energy in real time. 

In 2021, TWS earphone products that support fast charging will increase rapidly. Some products are advertised that they can support charging for 10 minutes and listening to songs for 5 hours. When you get up in the morning, the earphones are out of power, and charging during washing time can meet the needs of most users for a day's commuting. to improve the user experience. In 2022, the application cases of fast charging and wireless charging will continue to grow, and the battery life experience of the product will also be improved.

Bluetooth 5.3 popularization, LE Audio application

The reason why TWS earphones can achieve convenient connection and use experience is that Bluetooth technology plays a vital role in it. With the upgrade of Bluetooth technology, it provides terminal products with higher audio quality, lower power consumption and more Stable connection.

The Bluetooth SIG released the latest Bluetooth 5.3 core specification on July 13, 2021, which improved the periodic broadcast, connection update, and channel classification in Bluetooth low energy, and further improved low power consumption through the improvement of these functions. Bluetooth communication efficiency, reduced power consumption and improved wireless coexistence of Bluetooth devices. Bluetooth 5.3 also further improves the security of classic Bluetooth BR/EDR by introducing new features.

At present, many Bluetooth audio SoC products from original chip manufacturers have passed the Bluetooth 5.3 certification. It is believed that in 2022, the new generation of TWS headset products will support Bluetooth 5.3 one after another, thereby providing end users with a better wireless audio experience.

After several years of rapid development, TWS earphones have continuously improved product performance, more and more product functions, and constantly expanded new application scenarios to make the user experience better and better. Looking back on 2021, there are many excellent TWS earphone products on the market, providing consumers with a wealth of choices; noise-cancelling earphones have become standard, and the demand for sound quality has continued to increase. Functional applications such as adaptive noise reduction, spatial audio, and shared audio have brought Better user experience.

The stable and healthy development of TWS headphones is inseparable from the efforts of related technology and supply chain manufacturers. With the application of the new Bluetooth 5.3 specification and the new technical standard of LE Audio, Bluetooth transmission will achieve high sound quality, low power consumption and richer extended applications; SiP packaging system chip, charging box multi-functional main control IC, improve product performance, reduce System power consumption simplifies product design, optimizes the production and assembly process to make product performance more stable; multi-sensor applications enrich product functions, and battery performance improves to ensure battery life for all functional applications.

MAGIC SOUND will always adhere to the pursuit of excellent user experience as the core, and is committed to developing more humanized and intelligent TWS earphone products!