Samsung's cancellation of wired headsets

On the evening of January 14, 2021, Samsung’s global conference was officially held, and the latest flagship mobile phones of its S series were released, including the Samsung Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra. Compared with the previous generation, the processing performance and image system has been greatly improved, and Ultra supports the S Pen stylus for the first time.

With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, it has become a fact that Samsung will cancel the standard wired headsets. According to the pre-sale information of Galaxy S21 series products on Samsung’s official website, the accessories in the Galaxy S21 box only include USB data cables, card pins, travel chargers and manuals. Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra travel chargers need to be purchased separately, but The three products are not equipped with a corded headset as standard.

Samsung is the third mobile phone brand after Apple and Xiaomi that publicly stated that they will no longer deliver wired headsets and chargers. The era of complete wireless is coming. The explanation given by Samsung is neither Apple's so-called environmental protection concept, nor Xiaomi's response to technological environmental protection calls. Rather, it is believed that the survey found that Galaxy users like to reuse existing accessory products, and the new headsets are hardly used in the box. In order to help solve sustainable consumption and eliminate consumers’ pressure for continuous reception of problems in unnecessary new mobile accessories, so Samsung cancel the standard headset products.

Samsung’s original AKG wired headset has a similar experience to Apple’s EarPods, accompanied by multiple generations of Samsung’s S series and Note series. The midd le is also changed to Type-C interface due to the cancellation of the 3.5mm headphone jack. The only thing we know is that the Galaxy S21 series has canceled the standard AKG wired headset. We don't know whether other models on sale will cancel like Apple in the future.

The cumulative shipments of Samsung mobile phones at the third quarter of 2020 are 189.4 million units, and the total shipments in 2020 are approximately 270 million units. At the same time, Samsung recently updated its sales plan for 2021. The goal is to expand the lineup of mid-range and low-end entry-level 5G smartphones, seize more market share, and achieve a sales target of 307 million units in 2021.

According to industry data, the global smartphone shipment report in 2020 shows that global smartphone shipments will be 1.24 billion units in 2020. Although Samsung's market share in China has declined, its share in the global market has remained stable in the top three. Of the 307 million mobile phone shipment targets in 2021, about 287 million will be smartphones, accounting for about 93%, and the remaining 7% (about 20 million) will come from feature phones. At the same time, Samsung estimates that 50 million of the 287 million smartphones are flagship models.

It can be seen from Samsung's sales target for 2021 that we will see more Samsung mobile phones in the next year. These phones may no longer come with wired headsets. At the same time, Samsung will continue to update its own true wireless headset product line. All these will bring significant promotion to the wireless Bluetooth audio market.

As Samsung mobile phones no longer have wired headsets as standard, three brands currently occupying the top market share in the mobile phone market no longer have wired headsets as standard. Users who need headphones are no longer equipped with standard headphones to purchase them. The popularity of TWS earphones has also become the primary choice when buying earphone products. Therefore, due to the increase in demand, the sales of TWS true wireless earphones will increase rapidly. The rapid increase in TWS sales will also affect supply chain manufacturers, the most important of which is the TWS headset master chip and battery.

This time, as Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi no longer have wired headsets, it will once again drive the sales of TWS headsets to climb again, and the market will usher in a new round of competition and growth. As an indispensable part of the TWS headset, the charging box power management chip will also develop rapidly, continuously improve its own strength, and obtain various benefits from it.