TWS headset chips are severely discounted, and chip manufacturers may face a reshuffle

This year's hot TWS headsets have attracted various forces to enter the market, even Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have joined in the fun. The entry of various forces has also pushed the price of TWS solutions to continue to fall. The current major TWS chip manufacturers are Qualcomm, Huawei, Hengxuan Technology, Airoha, Zhuhai Jie Li, Realtek, Actions, AppoTech, and Ziguang Zhanrui, etc. In terms of price cuts, some manufacturers are very aggressive. It is said that the TWS headset solution has been reduced to less than 10 yuan, but such price cuts also contain crises. According to previous industry rules, when the price of a function around a mobile phone is reduced to a very low level, it is possible for mobile phone manufacturers to package and sell it. Therefore, the consequence of blindly reducing prices is that future mobile phone manufacturers will think that it is so cheap that they can give away this headset for free. At that time, it will become natural to make the main chip of the mobile phone and attach the headset chip. So in the end, it will become a few mobile phone chip manufacturers to clear the TWS headset chip solution?

       Next year, when a true TWS Bluetooth audio standard is launched, it may really trigger such a change. Recently, the author had a discussion with Wang Long, executive vice president of Unisoc, on the new TWS standard.

The real TWS Bluetooth standard is coming

     At present, TWS earphones are mainly based on the Bluetooth 5.0 standard, but they are still the traditional Bluetooth audio 3.0 EDR technology. The basic process of sound transmission is that the mobile phone transmits the 2.4GHz Bluetooth signal to the main earphone, and then the main earphone forwards the signal to the secondary ear with the same 2.4GHz Bluetooth signal. The advantage of this solution is that it uses a set of RF circuits and the PCB circuit board is small in size, but the disadvantage is that the 2.4GHz Bluetooth signal is easily absorbed by the human body, resulting in poor penetration - so some people will find that the sound of the two ears is not synchronized and the sound is floating. Qualcomm has developed its own dual-channel solution, which has certain compatibility issues.

       Wang Long said that currently TWS mainly has multiple technical methods such as forwarding, monitoring, and dual connection. Unisoc has its own core technology in TWS... It uses audio group technology. "The advantage of this technology is dual connection and direct connection between two ears, which has good stability. The two ears can also back up each other, and the two ears are directly connected. The latency is very good. The patent is exclusive, and no modification is required on the mobile phone side. It has good compatibility and is scalable." He emphasized, "After the launch of the Unisoc Springtide 5882 that supports TWS, tens of millions of units have been shipped."  

      Ivy 5882 was released in May this year. It has passed the Bluetooth 5.0 certification and supports BLE dual-mode. It has the characteristics of small size and high integration. It integrates Bluetooth RF/analog/PMU/CPU/DSP/Flash/RAM and other units, providing more possibilities for the diversified design of TWS Bluetooth headsets. Ivy 5882 supports 8K CVSD and 16K mSBC encoding, which can achieve high-quality binaural calls. It supports SBC/AAC music formats, DAC supports 96k sampling, and SNR reaches more than 110dB.        

       Recently, the noise reduction version of AirPods Pro was launched, which once again pushed the industry and consumers' enthusiasm for TWS to a climax. High-quality sound quality and noise reduction have become the future development trend of TWS headphones. According to people familiar with the matter, Apple asked the manufacturer Luxshare-ICT to double the production of AirPods Pro wireless headphones produced in Chinese factories to 2 million units per month. Apple also asked Luxshare-ICT and its Chinese counterpart GoerTek to expand the production of AirPods in Vietnam.

      Huachuang Securities believes that the hot sales of Apple AirPods have completely ignited the TWS headset market and led to a new round of growth opportunities for the entire acoustic industry chain. The annual output value of TWS headsets worldwide is over 150 billion yuan, and the trend of wireless headsets has promoted the TWS headset industry chain to become one of the best growth tracks in the next few years.   

       Wang Long revealed that next year the Bluetooth Technology Alliance will launch the true TWS audio standard BLE Audio. By then, the TWS field will cause market turmoil. The new "BLE Audio standard will realize true dual-channel, each channel can provide 2Mbps bandwidth, so better sound quality can be achieved, which will completely solve the patent problem of binaural connection." He revealed.

    Wang Long pointed out that after the new standard is released, the mobile phone needs to make changes to support the new standard. Relying on the support of the mobile phone platform, BLE will solve standard issues, sound quality issues, and compatibility issues. He revealed that Spreadtrum's chips will simultaneously support the new standard.

        This means that mobile phone platform manufacturers will become the dominant force in TWS in the future. The single-channel 2M bandwidth means that mobile phone manufacturers can provide higher sound quality to TWS, so mobile phone manufacturers are gradually beginning to exert their power in the layout of high-quality sound quality. Currently, Qualcomm has APTX, Huawei has HWA-LHDC, Apple has AAC, and Sony has APTLDAC/Hi-Res (High Resolution Audio). Lao Zhang estimates that MediaTek and Unisoc will also have their own high-quality audio standards. The introduction of these standards, supplemented by BLE Audio, will crush other pure TWS audio manufacturers! Therefore, manufacturers who only do TWS solutions should consider how to defend the market or build a moat, rather than blindly acquiring the market at a low price.      

        Some people think that the standard will be released in a year so the market is still uncertain. In fact, many manufacturers are standard setters. The release of the standard means that the product will be on the market immediately, so the market will change quickly. Wang Long believes that in the future, TWS headphones will also integrate biometric monitoring. It is amazing that a small headphone can contain so many changes.