[2023] The Latest Development Trend of TWS Earbuds

Up to 2022, many people have used TWS earbuds, but do you know how it was created and the trends for the next few years? We have collected information to provide detailed answers to these two questions. Let's read on.

PDF file: TWS Earbuds Manual

1. The Creation of TWS Earbuds

In 2016, Apple officially released wireless headphones AirPods, since then, TWS (True Wireless Stereo, True Wireless Stereo) headphones were born.

The full name of TWS is True Wireless Stereo, meaning true wireless stereo. TWS technology is based on the development of Bluetooth chip technology. Its working principle means that the cell phone by connecting the main headset, and then the main headset through the wireless way to quickly connect the secondary headset, to achieve the real Bluetooth left and right channel wireless separation use.

5 big technology of TWS 

1. Bluetooth connection technology
2. Sound quality
3. Active noise cancellation technology
4. Range technology
5. Intelligent technology

In fact, Bluetooth headset technology and products have long been developed for many years, but because of the uneven products and quality, the whole industry is chaotic. Until Apple released the world's first TWS Bluetooth headset AirPods, this product supports Apple's many ecological products connected (iphone, ipad, iWatch, Macbook), wireless headset built-in optical sensors and accelerometer.

Double-click this wireless headset can also access Siri, during the user call, this headset can also be noise-canceling filtering noise, to ensure sound quality. At the same time the domestic and international AI field hot development, TWS technology with the momentum of AI, riding the "smart" era of the express, from the Bluetooth headset, a new lease of life.

1.1 Features of TWS Earbuds

(1) Truly wireless: abandon the headset wire tangled troubles WS Bluetooth headset does not require a wired connection, get rid of the traditional headset wired bondage; left and right 2 headphones through Bluetooth to form a stereo system, listening, talking, wearing have been enhanced. If you add to professional acoustic pickup technology, intelligent noise reduction technology & AI algorithm noise reduction technology, etc., you can achieve the perfect sound experience: ear-to-ear voice, video calls, music, climbing a mountain and running, safe driving, etc. are not tied up. 　　

(2) Binaural stereo sound: enhance the sound quality effect and improve call quality From the perspective of the product, audio and video experience on the TWS headset is the focus of most user attention, so the noise cancellation function is an essential technology for TWS. 　

(3) Multiple perceptions: enhance the user experience and create intelligent voice TWS headset in 2018 crazy development era experienced semi-intelligent headsetization this road.

Many of the original Bluetooth chip in version 5.0 to do the upgrade, embedded serial flash memory, can be more flexible customer software upgrades, support third-party software porting; with the original ecology or content provided (audio content, headlines, health information, financial news, sports information, etc.) party to open its port, in fact, in the content of this piece of great promise.

Now the mainstream of a line of gods have been involved in the field of artificial intelligence, are building their own intelligent ecosystem, foreign to Microsoft, Google, Amazon, for example, extended Microsoft Cortana, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa wireless intelligent voice interaction services, behind which is a battle for intelligent terminal users.

The same domestic hardware manufacturers, represented by cell phone manufacturers are supporting its voice assistant, Huawei's TWS support its cell phone within the small billion, Xiaomi TWS support Xiao Ai classmates. 　　

(4) Compact size: comfortable to wear, easy to use, easy to carry.

2. The Latest Development Trend of TWS Earbuds 2023 [HOT!]

In 2022, the weak demand for consumer electronics has caused concern in the industry, in Q2 this year, several global personal smart audio device market are negative growth, the U.S. market fell by 1%, the Chinese market fell by 13%, other markets fell by 8%, only the Indian market to achieve 55% year-on-year growth. TWS headphones as an important segment of consumer electronics is also affected, from the Canalys report, in Q1 and Q2 of this year, the year-on-year growth of TWS headphones was 17% and 8% respectively, with demand slowing down significantly.

In recent years, the TWS headset market demand has also been changing, most notably, the pursuit of sound quality by consumers has never been left behind.

What kind of high sound quality do consumers need? Pangong will summarize two major points,

1. One is to please oneself, including the need for Hi-Res, lossless, high-definition high sound quality source, high-bandwidth Bluetooth transmission, ANC noise reduction; in addition, with the improvement of algorithmic computing power, there is aided and assisted listening and spatial audio, wear detection.

2. The second is pleasing others, including call noise reduction, connection stability and dynamic echo cancellation.

From this point of view, high sound quality will be the key to the growth of the TWS headset market. At present, the industry chain of TWS headphones upstream and downstream enterprises are laid out in the sound quality, such as Bluetooth chips, sensors to inductors and other aspects. For the field of wearable, Thingkey Microelectronics has also launched a number of chip solutions. It is understood that the thing strange micro launched the thing strange chip platform from the hardware architecture, RF performance, low latency technology, PLC technology and other aspects to ensure high sound quality and connection stability, through ultra-low power consumption design to ensure ultra-long life. Pangong will reveal that IOTC Micro is the first manufacturer to introduce HIFI 5 DSP into TWS headphones.

In terms of RF performance, the physical Qi chip platform can achieve a sensitivity of -98dBm. It is worth mentioning that the low latency technology of the Ioqi chip platform is based on the Bluetooth LE Audio architecture, which can realize the future support of both TWS and game mode, so as to support telephone calls and game voice dual link, with a delay of less than 20ms in the way of Dongle. in addition, the PLC technology is also able to modify the voice lost in the signal interruption, thus improving the audio quality.

Apple Airpods 3, Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 and more and more brand manufacturers use spatial audio technology, accelerating the speed of sound quality innovation of TWS headphones. But when the arithmetic power of spatial audio is not enough and the algorithm is too high, it is difficult to achieve the best results of spatial audio. The power consumption of the DSP subsystem (HIFI 5+TCM+DMA) of the Thingqi chip platform is only 0.09mW/MHz.