80m Bluetooth Speakers to Ship in 2015, Wi-Fi & NFC Also Seeing Rapid Market Growth

80 million Bluetooth Enabled Speakers to Ship in 2015, Wi-Fi Enabled and NFC Enabled Speakers Also Seeing Rapid Market Growth

Bluetooth continues to be the most widely used wireless technology for audio in mobile devices and is now fast becoming an essential technology for wireless streaming in the home. An estimated 65 million Bluetooth enabled home audio devices were shipped in 2014 and this is expected to double by 2020. Other wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi and NFC, are also being widely adopted by speaker OEMs.

Bluetooth was used in >95% of wireless headphones and mobile speakers in 2014, with wide spread adoption in room speakers and sound bars led primarily due to the growing trend to store and stream music from portable devices such as smartphones. “Consumers look for simple methods to stream audio from their smartphone libraries or from services such as Spotify”, commented Peter Cooney, Principal Analyst & Director of SAR Insight & Consulting: "The ubiquity of Bluetooth within the smartphone and the increasingly simplified pairing mechanism between devices has driven the use of Bluetooth as the audio streaming technology of choice for peer to peer connections."

Wi-Fi implementation in home audio devices has also increased rapidly, especially for use in multi-room devices. Wi-Fi is also widely used in room speakers (Airplay, DNLA) and is increasingly used in sound bars and mobile speakers. More than 130 million Wi-Fi enabled home audio devices are expected to ship between 2010 and 2020 (inclusive).

NFC use has grown rapidly since 2012. It is used alongside Bluetooth in many cases to enable simplified pairing between devices. Proprietary RF also continues to find niche uses; it is used in high end wireless headphones and has been extensively used in sound bars as the wireless technology to stream to wireless subwoofers. However, SAR Insight & Consulting expects interoperable wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to continue to pervade those applications currently using proprietary RF.

These are findings from SAR Insight & Consulting’s recently published study on “Wireless Connectivity Technologies in Home Audio” which is published as part of its Audio Devices, Technologies & Components Service.

For further information, please contact:

Peter Cooney, Principal Analyst & Director, SAR Insight & Consulting

peter@sensianresearch.com, +44 1392 580 960

Notes to editors

SAR Insight & Consulting provides detailed quantitative and qualitative research on established and emerging technology markets across multiple end applications. www.sarinsight.com