At its annual fall hardware event today, Amazon is tipped to unveil the Alexa wireless earbuds. The hearables will mark the e-commerce giant’s foray into the health segment as they are expected to have fitness-related features.
Codenamed “Puget,” the accessories will reportedly feature an embedded accelerometer. They will supposedly track things such as calorie torched, distance covered, and average pace. They will presumably come with a charging case which will juice them up when not in use. Per a previous report, the earbuds will offer better sound quality than Apple’s AirPods.
Although Amazon already rules the smart home market, its digital assistant is not present everywhere like the Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri. Part of the reason behind that is Amazon doesn’t sell smartphones. While it’s possible to use the Alexa app on handsets, it cannot be activated via voice command. Thus, for most users, it isn’t very convenient to use Amazon’s digital assistant on mobile phones.
Alexa Wireless Earbuds Will Likely Cost Less Than $100
With the alleged Alexa wireless earbuds, it will be easier for people to summon the assistant outside of their homes. However, the earphones will still need an Android or Apple handset to work as they are unlikely to have built-in cellular connectivity. It’s also not known if they will offer storage. The price will reportedly stay within the $100 mark. This will make Amazon’s earbuds more appealing to budget-conscious consumers than competitive offerings. Amazon usually keeps the prices of its products lower than that of rival’s and this helps it undercut them.
In recent times, Amazon has hired many health care experts. The company seems interested in having a piece of the healthcare industry and the new hearables can play a huge role in that. Moreover, the earphones can also make way for new opportunities. Unlike speakers, earbuds belong to one person usually. This can help Alexa provide a personalized experience and increase user engagement.
Last year, Amazon launched various Alexa powered gadgets and while this may have caused more people to seek the company’s digital assistant within their premises, it wasn’t enough to increase on the fly usage.
A New Echo Speaker Will Also Likely Be Announced
Alongside the earbuds, Amazon is also reportedly going to unveil a high-fidelity Echo speaker today. As the name implies, the speaker will offer improved sound quality. Like the earbuds, the new Echo will also supposedly be priced aggressively.
Right now, Apple reportedly has more than half of the wireless earbuds industry. Other players in the market include Jabra, Samsung, and Bose. Although Amazon owns the smart speaker segment, experts believe Google will take that crown away by 2022. Thus, venturing into the hearables industry, while churning out improved speakers surely seems to be the way to go.
The growth of smart speakers market will likely slowdown in the coming years. The reason behind that is as more devices get built-in assistants, home speakers will become less important. The earbuds industry, on the other hand, will expectedly go from 72 million shipments this year to 105.3 million in 2023.