Saturday 30 January 2021
When Apple launched the AirPods Max, the price of high-street headphones shot past the £500 mark, and while diehard audiophiles are scoffing at that being ‘cheap’, it remains for the majority of us a hefty chunk of change.
Prices have been increasing steadily since Beats by Dre transformed the headphone business model in 2008, with well-established brands quickly realising there’s a market for premium audio products not designed for the classic hi-fi set.
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With the phenomenal rise in music streaming and ubiquitous nature of smartphone design, headphones quickly became status symbols. The global market size was valued at $25.1 billion in 2019, with annual growth predicted at a staggering 20.3 per cent from 2020 to 2027.