NPD: AirPods only get 2-3% market share, not 26%

The last 12 of January we publish an article talking about how well the AirPods were selling. In that article, which collected data published by the company Slice Intelligence, it was said that one in four wireless headphones sold online since the launch of Apple's wireless headphones were about AirPods, but today NPD has stepped up to put the points on the i's and make those of Cupertino put their feet on the ground.

This afternoon, NPD has released information that ensures that the market share of the latest Apple launch is only 2% in number of sales and 3% in profits. How can it be that there is so much difference between the information published by Slice Intelligence and that published by NPD? The explanation is very simple and we will tell you about it below.

Slice Intelligente only talked about online sales of AirPods

The data obtained by Slice intellligence they only collected online sales, while those obtained by NPD collect all types of sales. According to the second, Beats is the one who leads this market with just 25% market share, which brings Apple 46% of the profits from all sales of wireless headphones.

NPD wants to make it clear that what the Cupertino team achieved is more important than their dose of reality reflects:

That Apple has been able to capture 2% of the market in units and 3% in dollars with a product in its month of launch is significant given how large the headphone market is. Apple is already shoulder to shoulder with Plantronics and Jaybird after only a partial month of sales.

To better assess the success of the AirPods, we have to take into account that the 26% of online sales and 2% market share has been achieved despite the low stock of Apple wireless headphones. If they have achieved that without stock, what will happen when it is normalized?