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AirPods have taken over daily conversation and the internet. They have grabbed an 85% revenue share in the U.S. market for wireless headphones, and the revenue for AirPods has doubled in 2018 compared to 2017. Although AirPods seem to be taking over schools nationwide, they are not the only popular wireless headphones on the market.
We observed that one of the most popular forms of headphones at Avonworth are Beats by Dre. Even though Beats by Dre is a company owned by Apple, they are still compared with each other. Many people are not aware that Beats by Dre is a sub-company of Apple, so they are not seen as the same thing.
We took a poll on what students preferred, and which they owned. The results were surprising. Our hypothesis was that AirPods would win because of the huge boom in business over the Christmas break, but we stand corrected because Beats and AirPods came close to a tie. AirPods won out by only one student. Although not everyone was asked to answer the poll, majority rules.
Some students did not even care, they prefer off-brand headphones because AirPods are too expensive ($160) and Beats are not much cheaper ($100). This was taken into consideration as we were asking people to answer our poll. Many students claimed that the Beats by Dre are a better quality for a cheaper price, but on the other hand, students said that AirPods are more convenient because of the smaller size. Junior Drew McDowell says, “Ohh, I choose off brand, but I feel like I’d pick AirPods if I was given one, just because they’re convenient.”
Because the two brands are so close in comparison, we assume that this is just a matter of brand loyalty. If you previously owned Beats, you are more likely to buy them again, and the same applies with Apple headphones.
Our final consensus is that AirPods are not as popular as they may seem, and Beats by Dre are a cheaper alternative.
Reported by Maggie Pappas & Ella Ciarimboli
