Apple continues to dominate the worldwide true wireless stereo landscape with steady year-over-year gains, despite a broader decline in device shipments. Key figures are outlined below.
An expansion of open wireless stereo units helps offset the downward trend in traditional true wireless stereo sales.
A recent Omdia report (shared via MacMagazine) shows Apple delivered 16.8 million true wireless stereo devices in Q2 2026, marking a 1.2% rise compared to Q2 2025.
Even with limited expansion, Apple’s performance remains stronger than the overall market, which contracted by 0.7% year-over-year.
Apple captured 20.5% of the entire TWS segment for the quarter—nearly double Xiaomi’s 10.4% position—it claimed third place behind Samsung at 6.7%, with Huawei trailing at 6.2% and OPPO closing at 5.0%.
Among the top five manufacturers, OPPO remained the sole player to post shipment growth, up 14.9% year-over-year; the count encompasses OnePlus devices.
Notably, Omdia released data on global open wireless stereo shipments, a category distinct from true wireless stereo that leaves the ear canal exposed.
Effectively, Omdia distinguishes standard TWS offerings—like in-ear and half-ear buds—from OWS formats such as clip-on and hook-style models that maintain an open canal path.
The OWS sector posted a 12% volume increase, led by Shokz which shipped 1.1 million units, securing a 10.3% market share and 107.9% growth year-over-year.
At its “Surprise and Shine” event recently, Apple hardware engineering vice president Dave Pakula called the newly launched AirPods 5 the company’s “beloved open-ear configuration,” later noting they offer “industry-leading active noise cancellation in an open-ear form factor.” Interestingly, Omdia excluded non-Pro variants from the OWS classification.
In the global OWS rankings, Sanag tracked second with a 7.6% share and 2.4% YoY growth, while Huawei placed third at 7.0% share—though their own volumes fell 4.1%. Baseus occupied fourth place with a 6.6% share and 29.9% growth, and Edifier rounded out the top five at 5.4% share with minimal 0.2% growth.
Omdia commented on these findings as follows:
Looking ahead, Omdia projects OWS will stay a key high-growth segment inside TWS, with annual shipments climbing from 43.9 million in 2026 to 90.5 million by 2030—roughly one-fifth of all TWS units.