Apple dominates wireless earbud market as iPhone Duo pricing draws attention

Apple continues to dominate the wireless earbud market. According to data from Omdia, Apple held a 20.5% market share in the second quarter of 2026, delivering 16.8 million TWS units. This represents a 1.2% year-over-year growth, even as the total global market declined by 0.7% to 82.1 million units.

Apple's market share is nearly double that of its closest competitor, Xiaomi, which holds 10.4%. Other major players include Samsung (6.7%), Huawei (6.2%), and OPPO (5%). While traditional in-ear TWS shipments fell by 2%, the open-ear wireless stereo (OWS) category grew by 12% to 11.1 million units.

Regarding mobile hardware, the new iPhone Duo is seeing significant pricing discussions. In Slovakia, the device starts at €2,369 for the 256 GB model, which equates to approximately 1.4 times the average monthly gross wage. Comparative data suggests it would take a Swiss worker about 7 days of work to afford the device, a US worker 10 days, and a Brazilian worker approximately 171 days.