Gaming Earbuds Market Expected to Reach $3.6 Billion by 2031—Allied Market Research

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Gaming Earbuds Market," The gaming earbuds market was valued at $1.7 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $3.6 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2022 to 2031. In 2021, the wireless gaming earbuds segment accounted for the majority of the total gaming earbuds market size. 

Gaming earbuds, also widely recognized as gaming earphones, are specially designed earphones with the aim to minimize latency across audio and video while playing a video game to provide a more engaging audio experience. They are commonly equipped with mechanisms such as noise isolation and surround sound to augment the gaming experience and performance. Most of the gaming earbuds available in the market are wireless, with most of them being truly wireless, with wired as well as collared wireless versions of gaming also available. Gaming earbuds are pricier than regular earbuds, however, premium gaming earbuds are still affordable in most cases as compared to gaming headphones, which increases the gaming earbuds market demand. 

Gaming has seen a rapid increase in popularity among consumers all over the world in recent years. Because of the development of hyper-realistic and immersive games with realistic sounds, as well as the creation of hardware that can support and supplement those games and sounds, consumers have purchased various types of software and hardware for both casual and competitive or professional gaming. Consumer demand for high-quality audio equipment to bring out the nuances in gaming audio and increase sound accuracy while gaming form the gaming earbuds industry has resulted in several different brands developing various types of gaming earbuds in recent years. As a result, consumers are buying more gaming earbuds, particularly for handheld devices, mobile phones, and laptop computers, enabling the gaming earbuds market growth. 

Gaming devices and peripheral devices are specially designed pieces of equipment that require specialized hardware, software, and drivers to function correctly. Market players are working to provide consumers with high-quality gaming earbuds that perform well and incorporate a variety of features. However, when compared to regular earbuds, this significantly raises the price of the earbuds. Economical gaming earbuds can frequently cost the same as premium regular earbuds, making them prohibitively expensive to buy. Because of the uncertainty of their gaming durations and gaming preferences, many consumers who play games for fun often hesitate to invest large sums of money in expensive gaming equipment.  

In 2021, specialty stores and brand stores were the most commonly used channels for the purchase of gaming earbuds as they helped provide consumers with adequate information regarding the attributes and quality of the products being purchased. Several companies are opening their own brand stores that provide the products from their companies to the consumers at slightly subsidized prices in order to directly service the consumers and create better customer relations, which is one of the newer gaming earbuds market trends. These brand stores help consumers purchase products from their favorite brands directly while allowing them to enjoy discounts and loyalty programs, providing the gaming earbuds market opportunity for growth. 

The gaming earbuds market is segmented on the basis of type, price point, distribution channel, and region. By type, the gaming earbuds market is classified into wireless and wired. Depending on price point, the market is categorized into premium and economic. According to distribution channels used for sale of gaming earbuds, the market is segmented into hypermarkets and supermarkets, specialty stores, brand stores, and online channels. By region, the market is divided across North America (the U.S., Canada, and Mexico), Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, and rest of Asia-Pacific), and LAMEA (Brazil, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and the Rest of LAMEA). 

Wireless gaming earbuds accounted for the majority of the gaming earbuds market share and are also predicted to have significant growth with a CAGR of 7.8% during the forecast period as it is the most popular type of gaming earbuds and provides the highest flexibility. Most consumers of gaming earbuds preferred economic gaming earbuds leading it to capture around 65% of the market share, and the sale of premium gaming earbuds is predicted to grow significantly with a CAGR of 8.5%. Specialty stores were the most popular mode of purchase of gaming earbuds in 2021, however, the sale of gaming earbuds through online sales channels is expected to have major growth with a CAGR of 8.4% in the future owing to the ease of purchase and larger varieties of gaming earbuds available online. 

Asia-Pacific was the largest region in terms of consumption in the gaming earbuds industry as many consumers in the region, especially in countries such as Japan and South Korea are heavily engaged in gaming and are some of the largest countries in terms of MOBA (Multiplayer online battle arena) and MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) gaming. 

Key findings of the study 

• By type, the wireless segment dominated the market in 2021 and is likely to remain dominant during the forecast period. 

• By price point, economic gaming earbuds are the most popular and premium gaming earbuds are predicted to have the highest growth during the forecast period. 

• By distribution channel, specialty stores had the highest market share in 2021 while the online channel is expected to have the highest growth during the gaming earbuds market forecast period.  

The players operating in the gaming earbuds market have adopted various developmental strategies to increase their gaming earbuds market size, gain profitability, and remain competitive in the market. The key players operating in the gaming earbuds market analysis include- Ant Esports, Asustek Computer Inc., Beijing Edifier Technology Company, Ltd., boAt Lifestyle, Boult Audio, Demant A/S, EKSA, Gravastar, HP Development Company, L.P., JLab International., Logitech International SA, Raycon Inc., Razer Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and Turtle Beach Corporation.