Type-C headset has disappeared, why it has not become popular

This is also LeTV's first mobile phone to adopt the CDLA audio standard.

Probably it was shocked by Jia Yueting’s ideas, or for other reasons. A year later, major mobile phone manufacturers have also begun to cancel 3.5mm headphone jacks. Some are because of waterproof, some are because of the thickness of the body Output better sound quality.

Manufacturers have different opinions, and they can always think of a reason to kill the 3.5mm headphone jack. In order to overstep, many manufacturers will provide a 3.5mm headphone jack to Type-C adapter in the box of the new machine.

Subsequently, the manufacturer then showed a wicked smile and launched the Type-C headset. When everyone is discussing "Will the 3.5mm headphone jack be launched on the historical stage?" "Type-C headphones will replace the 3.5mm headset?", Type-C headphones have quietly launched on the historical stage.

Coming and going in a hurry, Type-C headset seems to stay in our memory for a short time. Today, two years later, we rarely see it at CES, China Joy and other major exhibitions. Instead, TWS is truly wireless. The bluetooth headset has reached its limit.

01 Why cancel the 3.5mm headphone jack?

Different from the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack, the appearance of Type-C headphones seems helpless, because there is no headphone jack to plug in, only the Type-C charging port can be plugged in, so Type-C headphones were born.

If you want to understand why the Type-C headset disappears so quickly, let's talk about why the 3.5mm headphone jack is missing. It's so good, why was it cancelled by the manufacturer?

In layman's terms, manufacturers have changed the design of mobile phones for these two reasons: 1. In order to make the design more distinctive than competing products; 2. In order to dig more profits in potential areas and make more money.

The pursuit of ultimate design is bound to make trade-offs

With the passage of time, the iteration of mobile phones is not as simple as upgrading the processor, but also on camera modules, workmanship materials, increased battery life, more modules (for example, now flagship phones have added 5G), and so on. Therefore, if you want to ensure the thickness of the body, it is appropriate to make some trade-offs in a position like the headphone jack.

If you don't say too long, just say the near ones. In June 2020, the vivo X50 Pro came out. It is also a model with the 3.5mm headphone jack removed. As a 5G mobile phone, the body thickness is only 8.04mm and the weight is 181.5g. It can be said to be a model at the same price. The medium is thin and light.

Another reason is to strengthen the integrity of the fuselage. Like the vivo models in recent years, such as the vivo NEX series, the pursuit of the fuselage without holes. Of course, it can also be strengthened in dust and waterproof. Therefore, in the era of non-porous and wireless 5G, canceling the 3.5mm headphone jack has become the tacit choice of contemporary mobile phone manufacturers.

The dividend of TWS headphones cannot be underestimated

In 2016, iPhone 7 also cancelled the headphone jack, but also launched AirPods in the same year. Although many professionals analyzed at the time, Apple's move may affect iPhone sales until AirPods sold 60 million a year, and revenue was close. Ten billion, and won 85% of the wireless headset market, people began to pay attention to this once "obscure" TWS headset.

How much revenue can AirPods bring to Apple? Some analysts have suggested that the TTM (price-to-earnings ratio of the last twelve months) of Apple’s AirPods headset exceeds that of well-known world-class technology companies such as Adobe, AMD, Spotify, and Twitter. Received over 10 billion US dollars.

Perhaps due to the desire to gain a share in the wireless headset market, we have seen manufacturers such as Honor and OPPO have also launched their own TWS headsets.

　　Glory choose Earbuds X1

　　OPPO Enco W31

In general, Type-C earphones are used more like paving the way for strategy. It can be said to be for a more harmonious body design, or it can be said to promote their own TWS earphones. It's like a transition.

02 TWS is not the only enemy of Type-C headphones

Looking back, we can find that Type-C earphones have gradually withdrawn from the market, which has a lot to do with the product and fragmented marketing.

TWS headset is obviously much more convenient

In the old days, we could use 3.5mm plug headphone cables to connect mobile phones, tablets, computers and other devices, plug and play, almost no additional cost issues. But today, after canceling the headphone jack, I encountered this problem:

　　My mobile phone is an iPhone and I use Lightning. If you want to listen to songs on a mobile phone, you need Lightning EarPods; my computer is a MacBook, which uses a 3.5 mm interface, if I want to listen to songs on a computer, then I need a 3.5 mm EarPods. . .

　　Apple family bucket

The iPad Pro I brought uses the Type-C interface. If you want to use it to listen to music, you need to bring an extra USB-C to 3.5mm adapter cable.

In other words, the carrier device I use now has a 3.5mm interface and a Type-C interface. Listening to music is no longer a problem that can be solved by a headphone cable, and a pair of AirPods is much more convenient. Open it and use it. For modern people, convenience is really more important than anything else.

Compatibility issues have also become a drawback of Type-C headphones

Because many mobile phones have cancelled the 3.5mm headphone jack, the limited audio output can only be through USB Audio-basically digital output, so Type-C headphones also need a built-in Codec. Then the Type-C definitions are different from each other, which makes it no problem for their Type-C headsets to be compatible with their own mobile phones, but it is easy to cause various problems if they want to be compatible with other brands of mobile phones.

For example, if you use Huawei’s Type-C headset to plug into Xiaomi, it just works. Congratulations, but there is a high probability that it will be unavailable due to incompatibility.

03 Wireless split headset will definitely become the next development situation

Headphones, a technological product, have been around for decades. In the past few decades, products have been continuously improved and upgraded, and the sound quality has become more and more colorful. From the primitive simplicity to the exquisiteness of today, from wired to collar, to wireless, from wearing comfort to active noise reduction, it has been integrated into our lives and has become a necessity.

So in 2020, what is the development direction of headphones? There is no doubt that the answer was announced at last year's CES-wireless split headsets must become the next development.

Nowadays, we can not only see TWS headphones produced by manufacturers such as OPPO, Honor, Apple, etc., but also new brands such as 1MORE and Anker are also committed to developing new forms and black technology TWS headphones.

The versatility of Bluetooth allows TWS headsets to directly ignore the interface problem. With the popularization of Bluetooth 5, the stability and battery life of TWS headsets have been further guaranteed. Thumb-sized earplugs can also last for 5 hours, which can satisfy most User needs.

In terms of comfort, the true wireless form does remove a lot of constraints, and there is no need to worry about the entanglement of the headphone cable or the embarrassing situation of being hung on a sharp object. Take the earphone out of the earphone box and put it on. It's as simple as taking out the chewing gum from your pocket and peeling it into your mouth. It can be done in a few seconds.

Another reason is the low cost. Take Xiaomi as an example. The lowest price of the dual-unit semi-in-ear Type-C headset on the platform is 89 yuan, while the Xiaomi Bluetooth audio receiver that can turn a 3.5mm headset into a Bluetooth headset is only 99 yuan. Yuan; Even the Mi Bluetooth headset Air only costs 399 yuan, and the price of TWS headsets is becoming more and more popular and affordable.

04 TWS headphones also have these new ways to play

As early as 2016, Jabra added heart rate monitoring and maximum oxygen uptake monitoring to the Elite Sport product, the purpose is to allow users to easily understand heart rate and adjust exercise intensity. There is also news that Apple will also add a similar heart rate test function to variants of AirPods in the future, as well as taking into account wireless health monitoring.

In terms of product design, TWS headphones are more fashionable. Last year, the American audio company Master&Dynamic announced the Louis Vuitton Horizon customized by Louis Vuitton based on the Master&Dynamic MW07 basis. This headset not only has the iconic LV shape, but also carries a custom 10mm beryllium diaphragm moving coil monomer.

Wireless earphones also allow the earphones to realize the universal characteristics of the whole scene. Even during swimming, you can wear some waterproof TWS to enjoy the fun of music in underwater sports. These are advantages that many wired headsets and other head-and-neck headsets cannot achieve.

Going back to the starting point of the problem, Type-C earphones are just a set of solutions for us to solve the problem. In addition to it, we have a better form of TWS earphones. It is not just that manufacturers want to increase TWS sales, but behind it. Yes, the reason why users are willing to pay for this is precisely because [the new form of products can truly enhance our life experience], whether it is cool and fashionable appearance, or cutting-edge technological functions, it is enriching our needs. Therefore, there is no point in discussing whether Type-C headphones are going to stay or not.

In general, the survival time of Type-C earphones may also record the evolution of earphones. Although they will be replaced by true wireless earphones, we have also obtained more desirable results, nothing more.