Earbuds have now become the most in-demand fashion accessory which is not seen as a bona fide status symbol among the millennials. Let’s look into the fact that how earbuds gained so much popularity in recent years.
Wires are now termed to be antwacky. With today’s work from home era, earbuds and headphones have become an integral part of our lives so much that it has now become hard to imagine our lives without the use of them. Whether you are at home or travelling, earbuds are now an integral part of our living. After months of COVID-induced online meetings and chats, a pair of wireless Bluetooth earbuds are one of the visible props that have become almost ubiquitous in video calls nowadays.
It would be true to say that Apple’s AirPods were the catalyst for the rise of wireless earbuds. As in 2016, AirPods suddenly became the most trolled devices, sparking a wave of displeasure and memes, but soon became famous when more brands started to ditch the conventional headphone jack and more users discovered the convenience of these featherlight earbuds. Initially, everybody was annoyed by Apple’s decision to omit the 3.5-mm headphone socket from the iPhone 7, but later realised the usefulness of earbuds.
With the rise of earbuds, we are now slightly on the path to forget our entanglements with wires. The rise and popularity of wireless Bluetooth headphones and earbuds have made it an essential trend today where people now find it necessary to own at least one pair of wireless headphones and earbuds.
Earbuds vs Headphones
When we turn on TV or flick through the pages of a magazine, there is a high probability to spot a celebrity or model posing with a pair of headphones placed either from ear-to-ear or around the neck. To own a pair of these monster-sized headphones was a trend approximately two or three years ago. But today people prefer light-weight small earbuds that look stylish as well as are easy to carry.
For a comparison between earbuds and headphones, let’s look at a bit of history. The huge big-sized headphones were known to people from the 1970s. Portable music players began to emerge in the 1980s, and since then portable headphones began to shrink in size. Apple debuted with its iPod in 2001 and included a pair of sleek, white earbuds. Suddenly, earbuds were in fashion for listening to music. And then in 2016, with the arrival of AirPods in the market, earbuds have now surfaced themselves as the legit fashion accessory today.
Earbuds and Headphones both have their pros and cons and are considered as the best device for delivering the sounds. Headphones rest on outer ears and provide a full enclosure to each ear because of which they are able to provide superior sound quality, especially when comes to bass tones. Also, some headphones come with active noise cancellation (ANC) advantage that blocks the ambient noise.
While, earbuds can also rest on the outer ear, but most are meant to be inserted into the ear canal. Earbuds are typically less expensive than headphones and are also much lighter and far less bulky. This quality of earbuds makes them portable, which is why we nowadays usually have a view of people walking on the streets with earbuds attached to their ears. The major reason for the success of earbuds today is that they are not only easy to carry but are immensely fashionable. Earbuds are now seen as a fashion trend by many and few people even prefer them in order to keep themselves updated with the latest fashion trend.
Though earbuds don’t affect your hairstyle or wearing of glasses and earrings, they deliver inferior sound quality as compared to headphones. Also, they don’t filter out external noise, which sometimes becomes a reason for the earbud owner to be cranky. So now it becomes quite easy to understand why some people prefer earbuds while some prefer headphones.
Earbuds Fashion: The credit goes to Apple’s AirPods
Back in 2016, Apple went wireless with AirPods. People were not were receptive to the product and were mocked by social media with a series of memes and trolls. The question that was in everybody’s mind back then was: Would people actually wear these AirPods? But if we look today, the answer is quite known. The earbuds are almost ubiquitous and became an unignorable fashion trend.
The reason for its popularity was quite simple. The weird and wireless white AirPods became so much trendy because people began to show them up at fashion weeks. The previously not fashionable AirPods became fashionable because some cool people, models, and celebrities began wearing them and they soon became Instagram bait, maybe because they were fitting very well in selfies.
The AirPods were mocked by certain tech industries and were seen as a recipe for disaster that would litter the streets with the lost tinny earbuds. But fast forward in 2019, these little AirPods became a bona fide status symbol among the millennials. Seeing this, other brands also started to produced earbuds similar to AirPods in order to increase their profit.
With the arrival of earbuds in the market, people using brands other than Apple also started owning earbuds, making them the most in-demand accessory for the year. Earbuds are everywhere now and have become a part of popular culture today. We can spot people using earbuds at airports, cafes, co-working spaces, video conferencing, and the list is endless.
Smartphone companies now don’t provide you with earphones
In recent times, various smartphone brands have stopped including earphones with the new purchase. This is all done because the market of the smartphone has now turned very competitive and also the companies want to sell their smartphones at low costs to attract the customers. Also, one of the primary reasons for not including earphones with smartphones is that nowadays most of the companies are producing their own earbuds and they want customers to purchase them at a cost.
Though these earbuds are less in cost as compared to AirPods, this helps companies to make more profit as earbuds are in trend in the market and people are buying them. This is helping companies to improve their market and build trust among customers regarding various products.