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Since Apple launched the AirPods in 2016, the TWS (True Wireless Stereo) earphone market has experienced nearly six years of explosive growth. However, due to factors such as chip shortages, repeated pandemic outbreaks, and economic conditions, various data suggest that the demand for consumer electronics cooled in 2021, with a noticeable slowdown in the growth rate of the TWS earphone market.

Against this backdrop, the entire industry needs to reevaluate the pain points of the TWS earphone supply chain. What are the core selling points of TWS earphones? In a market saturated with new products and similar features, how can the TWS earphone industry break through? During the recently concluded "5th TWS Market Trend Summit Forum," AncSonic shared insights on these pain points, core selling points, and strategies for overcoming the industry's challenges in a presentation titled "Spatial Sound Field ANC, Boosting TWS Earbud Yield Rate to Over 97%."

Yield Rate Exceeds 97%

For smart ANC TWS earphones, success depends on both manufacturing and operational processes. While it may not be difficult to launch a hyped ANC TWS product or produce prototypes, the real challenge lies in ensuring that each earphone in mass production meets quality standards.

The higher the yield rate, the fewer negative reviews and the better the brand reputation. However, current ANC TWS earphones, due to their small and varied form factors and complex manufacturing processes, have an industry average yield rate of around 85%. In practice, this means that out of every 100 ANC TWS earphones produced, 10 to 20 may have minor defects, requiring repairs, part replacements, or even scrapping—wasting significant resources and increasing production costs.

There are two approaches to improving yield rates. The first is optimizing the production process and increasing precision on the assembly line. However, due to cost constraints, line precision can only be enhanced up to a certain point, with the yield rate reaching a maximum of around 90%.

The second approach is the path AncSonic has taken. AncSonic employs three-dimensional spatial sound field technology to model sound fields in one-dimensional headphone scenarios. This technology compensates for and senses changes in sound wave reflection and refraction within the environment and applies software corrections accordingly.

AncSonic's self-developed manufacturing simulation process integrates a production system from the 3C digital manufacturing industry, incorporating an assembly error constraint system and precise control of acoustic influencing factors within the assembly process. This ensures consistent acoustic quality in the final product and has boosted the yield rate of ANC TWS earphones to over 97%.

Comfort and Active Noise Cancellation Combined

Functionally, AncSonic believes that ANC will remain the most important core selling point for TWS earphones in the future. Over the past two years, more and more domestic brands have incorporated ANC features into mid- to low-end products priced at RMB 400–600, accelerating the widespread adoption of ANC.

ANC is a key strength of AncSonic, whose spatial sound field ANC algorithm provides real-time noise cancellation across a wide frequency range, covering up to 4000Hz, particularly improving noise reduction in the human voice range. This results in a significantly enhanced voice noise cancellation experience.

Additionally, the spatial sound field ANC algorithm used in TWS earphones offers another advantage—true transparency mode. AncSonic explains that when covering your ears while speaking, the sound of your voice resonates in the enclosed space, making it uncomfortable. This is similar to wearing earphones, where external sounds are reduced, but the user's own voice, transmitted through bone conduction, becomes amplified. This is why many transparency modes fail to deliver a truly transparent experience.

To achieve true transparency, the resonance chamber must be broken. There are two methods: for semi-in-ear earphones, which do not fully block the ears, there is no resonance chamber, so the sound remains normal; for in-ear earphones, amplifying ambient sounds while counteracting the resonance from bone conduction helps create a natural listening experience.

AncSonic’s spatial sound field control ensures that the sound heard while conversing with in-ear earphones on feels as natural as when no earphones are worn. The company shared data showing that the yellow curve represents the sound of one's voice when speaking without earphones, while the blue curve shows the sound when wearing AncSonic's in-ear earphones—both curves are very close. This demonstrates that with AncSonic's earphones, the experience of hearing one’s own voice remains almost unchanged when speaking.

Whether it's improved voice suppression through algorithms or more natural voice reproduction, AncSonic’s approach is to ensure effective noise cancellation while providing added comfort. AncSonic has also recognized that while in-ear earphones offer better ANC through a more sealed design, they may not be comfortable for users with sensitive ear canals, often forcing them to choose between comfort and ANC.

To address this, AncSonic developed semi-in-ear ANC TWS earphones. These lightweight earphones underwent tens of thousands of tests using 3D ear molds during development to meet the comfort needs of most users. Most importantly, they achieve a noise reduction effect of 20 dB(A), with an ANC depth of about 30-35 dB, effectively meeting users' noise reduction needs in daily commuting and noisy environments, balancing comfort and ANC.

Innovating to Break Through Industry Saturation

The TWS supply chain is at a critical juncture—either continue battling in a saturated market, or break through and find new opportunities. AncSonic has chosen the latter.

Thanks to the rich experience in consumer electronics manufacturing in southern China, any smart hardware product can quickly become a "red ocean" within a year. In the latest round of the TWS earbud battle, some factories even advertise “molding in three days, shipping in one month,” showing the intensity of the competition.

AncSonic believes that market saturation won't change the world—only innovation will drive industry progress. With its expertise in spatial sound field control and algorithms, AncSonic has developed earphones with more distinctive features.

During this presentation, AncSonic introduced two new earphones. The first is a hearing aid earphone, designed for users with hearing loss. It amplifies voices to ensure clear conversations, while intelligently reducing external noise to provide a more natural and comfortable hearing experience. The second is a karaoke earphone featuring AncSonic's self-developed reverb algorithm. This technology enables precise sound pickup, creating an immersive karaoke-like reverb effect, comparable to a KTV, allowing users to sing anytime, anywhere. 

In addition, AncSonic has more earphones with unique features under development and testing.

Although AncSonic is not a long-time player in the earphone market, its long-standing expertise in acoustics has built technical barriers and added technological value, giving it a core competitive advantage. Moving forward, AncSonic will continue to focus on ANC, crafting exceptional ANC TWS earphones for brand clients. At the same time, the company will focus on new demands in vertical application scenarios, creating innovative technology-driven consumer products in the TWS space and discovering new "blue ocean" markets to expand the boundaries of smart earphones for its brand clients.