Whenever Apple launches a new product, it’s almost guaranteed that there will be people who mock them for it, whether it be for the design, price, features, specs, and so on. The AirPods was such a product that was made fun of when it was first announced, especially given its price and design.However fast forward to today, the AirPods appears to be selling well, so much so that in some markets it has become rather difficult to get yourself a pair. In fact analyst Gene Munster seems to believe (via The Loop) that in time, the AirPods could become a bigger hit compared to the Apple Watch that was launched to a lot of anticipation and hype, only to fall short.
By no means is the Apple Watch a failure, but it definitely did not deliver on the hype, which is actually the opposite of the AirPods which went on to be rather successful despite many being rather skeptical of it. According to Munster, “Over the next 10 years, we anticipate that AirPods will be bigger than the Apple Watch as the product evolves from simple wireless headphones to a wearable, augmented audio device. While both AirPods and Apple Watch should continue to grow, we see AirPods contributing about the same amount of revenue as Apple Watch by FY22.”
As Dave Mark at The Loop writes, the keyword here is “augmented”. There is no doubt that Apple believes that Siri will play a huge part in their future (hence the launch of the HomePod), and as Siri’s capabilities grow, so too will the need to interact with it in more ways than an iOS device, and the AirPods will be one of those mediums. Whether or not Munster’s predictions will come true remains to be seen, but what say you?
Filed in . Read more about AI (Artificial Intelligence), AirPods, Apple Watch, Headphones, Siri, Smartwatch and Wearable Tech.