AirPods SE: Apple’s Key to Headphone Dominance

Making their iconic headphones more accessible could lead to a market share win in yet another sector of consumer electronics for Apple

It can be argued that Apple’s most ubiquitous product is the iPhone, after all, it dominates over 50% of the smartphone market share in the United States. But a close second might be AirPods. They are the default Bluetooth headphone choice for iPhone users and account for over a third of the truly wireless earbud market. When Apple’s Beats division is accounted for, that total balloons to nearly half of the market. Apple is now rumored to be working on a budget-conscious version of AirPods to tackle the entry-level segment of the headphone market. In addition to the offerings from Beats, lower-cost AirPods would surely be a boon for Apple but also could cause a borderline monopoly for the AirPods line.

The Race to the Bottom

Apple as a company in general is used to operating on the higher end of the market. Across all its product categories, they tend to price its products in the premium space. The iPhone typically starts at $700 and there are no sub-$200 iPhones that compete with entry-level…