True Wireless Shipments Slip for the First Time Since 2023 as Open-Ear Designs Grow 12%

For three years the true wireless earbud has been the one reliably expanding shape in personal audio. According to figures from market-research firm Omdia, reported by audioXpress on 18 September 2026, that run has ended. Omdia counts global true wireless stereo (TWS) shipments at 82.1 million units in the second quarter of 2026, a decline of 0.7% year on year — which the firm describes as the category's first annual contraction since Q2 2023.

It is a shallow decline, well under a percentage point, and a single quarter is not a trend. But it is a directional change in a segment that had grown through every comparable quarter since the middle of 2023, and the internal composition of the number is arguably more interesting than the headline. Growth has not disappeared from the category. It has relocated.

Where the growth went

Omdia splits the category into conventional TWS — in-ear and semi-in-ear designs, taken together — and open wireless stereo (OWS), the open-ear format that sits outside the ear canal rather than sealing it. In Q2 2026, Omdia records the conventional side down 2%, while OWS shipments rose 12% to 11.1 million units.

That shift moved OWS from 12% of total true wireless shipments a year earlier to 13.5% in the quarter. In other words, the open-ear format did not merely grow faster than the rest of the category; it grew while the rest of the category shrank, and absorbed enough volume to keep the overall decline to a fraction of a percent.

Within OWS itself, Omdia's numbers show a clear preference in form factor. Clip-on designs — the ones that pinch onto the outer ear — accounted for 61% of open-ear shipments in the quarter. Ear-hook models, which loop over the top of the ear, took the remaining 39%.

The bottom of the price ladder is moving fastest

The price-tier data is where the growth rates get dramatic, and where they need the most careful reading. Omdia records entry-level OWS models priced below $50 growing 323% year on year, and the $100–$199 segment growing 253%.

Those are growth rates, not market shares, and they are being measured off small bases. A tier that barely existed a year ago can post a triple-digit percentage increase on modest absolute volume. What the figures do indicate is that open-ear is no longer a format confined to specialist or premium products — it is being manufactured and shipped in quantity at budget price points. audioXpress names Baseus, QCY and Sanag among the vendors driving that entry-level expansion.

Omdia separately identifies sound quality, comfort and AI-enabled features as the competitive battleground in the premium end of the open-ear segment, which suggests the format is bifurcating in the same way conventional TWS did several years ago: commodity volume at the bottom, feature differentiation at the top.

What the data does not say

It is worth being explicit about the limits of this release. Omdia, as reported, is not quoted offering a cause for the overall decline. Market saturation, lengthening replacement cycles, tariff effects and smartphone bundling practices are all plausible explanations that commentators will reach for, but none of them appear in the data. The tracker records what shipped; it does not diagnose why.

The figures are also unit shipments only. There are no revenue totals, no average selling prices and no brand-level unit numbers in the reported release. The only vendors named anywhere in the coverage are Baseus, QCY and Sanag, and only in the specific context of entry-level open-ear growth — not as a ranking of the category overall.

Nor does this release speak to Q3. A 0.7% dip in one quarter, after twelve quarters of growth, is an inflection worth noting precisely because it is unusual, not because subsequent quarters are known to follow it.

And this is a shipments story rather than a listening one. Nothing in Omdia's data addresses how open-ear designs perform acoustically against sealed in-ear models, and the growth figures should not be read as a verdict on either format's sound. What they measure is how many units left factories and entered distribution.

The 2030 projection

Omdia's forecast extends the open-ear trajectory well past the current quarter. The firm projects annual OWS shipments rising from 43.9 million units in 2026 to 90.5 million by 2030 — roughly a doubling over four years, and a level Omdia frames as approximately one in five true wireless shipments overall.

If that projection holds, the open-ear format stops being a niche adjacent to true wireless and becomes a standing fifth of it. Forecasts four years out carry obvious uncertainty, and Omdia's own Q2 number is a reminder that categories can turn faster than models anticipate. But the direction of the projection is consistent with what the quarter actually recorded: a mature core format flattening out, and an alternative wearing style picking up the slack.

Reading the quarter

For anyone tracking the personal-audio market, the useful summary of Q2 2026 is this. The overall true wireless category stopped growing for the first time in three years, by a margin small enough that it could reverse. Conventional in-ear and semi-in-ear designs fell 2%. Open-ear designs grew 12% and now account for 13.5% of shipments, concentrated in clip-on form factors and expanding fastest at budget prices. And Omdia expects the open-ear share to keep climbing through the end of the decade.

All figures in this report are Omdia's, as published via audioXpress; they are not independent measurements.

Frequently asked questions

How many true wireless earbuds shipped worldwide in Q2 2026?

Omdia's Q2 2026 tracker counts 82.1 million true wireless stereo units shipped globally, a decline of 0.7% year on year. Omdia describes this as the first year-on-year contraction in the true wireless category since Q2 2023. The figure covers unit shipments only; the release as reported does not include revenue totals or average selling prices.

What share of true wireless shipments are open-ear designs?

Open wireless stereo (OWS) designs accounted for 13.5% of total true wireless shipments in Q2 2026 according to Omdia, up from 12% a year earlier. That equates to 11.1 million units, a 12% year-on-year increase, at a time when conventional in-ear and semi-in-ear true wireless models declined 2%.

What does Omdia forecast for open wireless stereo shipments by 2030?

Omdia projects annual open wireless stereo shipments rising from 43.9 million units in 2026 to 90.5 million units by 2030 — roughly a doubling over four years. Omdia frames the 2030 figure as approximately one in five true wireless shipments overall. As with any multi-year forecast, the projection carries uncertainty.

Which price tier of open-ear earbuds grew fastest in Q2 2026?

Omdia records entry-level open wireless stereo models priced below $50 growing 323% year on year in Q2 2026, with the $100–$199 segment up 253%. These are growth rates measured off small bases rather than market shares. audioXpress names Baseus, QCY and Sanag among vendors driving entry-level expansion.

Why did true wireless earbud shipments decline in Q2 2026?

Omdia's Q2 2026 release, as reported by audioXpress, records the 0.7% decline to 82.1 million units but is not quoted offering a cause for it. Saturation, replacement cycles, tariffs and smartphone bundling are commonly suggested explanations, but none appear in the published data. The tracker reports shipment volumes, not their drivers.

This article was written by an AI system from Into The HiFi AI Desk, generated from the following sources, with no human editing pass before publication: audioXpress — Omdia Predicts OWS Shipments to Push Growth in Overall True Wireless Products Category (18 September 2026).