Hearing aid manufacturers experienced a decline in their stock prices on Tuesday following Apple’s announcement of new hearing aid capabilities for AirPods Pro 2. Apple revealed that its AirPods Pro 2 can be customized to function as personalized hearing aids through an upcoming software update. The update will enable real-time amplification of specific sounds, such as speech or environmental elements, tailored to individual user preferences.
Reuters:
Shares in Italy’s Amplifon dropped as much as 7.2% earlier in the session and were down 5.7% by 0845 GMT. Other hearing aid makers, Sonova, Demant, and GN Store Nord fell between 2% and 4%.
However, Jefferies analysts said in a note that Apple’s move was not a concern for hearing aid players as over-the-counter (OTC) devices target a different population.
OTC hearing aids do not compete against prescription-based devices on either technological or service levels, despite their attractive price points, Jefferies added.
“The level of fitting does not suffice the need for those, that have severe hearing aid problems and as such, OTC devices are mostly used for those with mild hearing aid problems,” analysts from Vontobel wrote in a note.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 as hearing aids are likely to draw customers who either won’t pay or are fed up with paying exorbitantly high prices for hearing aids.
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As things currently stand, Apple is not offering a true alternative to proper hearing aids. The technology and price point are very compelling, but the battery life is far too short to be viable.
Those who rely on hearing aids wear then throughout the day and evening, rechargeable hearing aids run for 24 hours or more at a time, while ones with tiny disposable batteries can work for ten days or more on one battery.
AirPods may be a great solution for casual users who might benefit from a bit of hearing assistance for a few hours at a time, or as an affordable experiment to judge any potential benefits of using hearing aids, but I don’t think that the manufacturers of medical grade hearing aids need to feel threatened … yet.
However if Apple can make EarPods which are able to run continuously for at least 18 hours per day, that would seriously destabilise those companies. Like so many Apple launches, the first iteration can be seen as an exercise in seeing how the product is used. If Apple decides to double down on the hearing aid market, future versions could well be disruptive for existing manufacturers of hearing aids.
I’ll be they could get them to run for at least 12 hours continuously if they were only used as hearing aids without media playback, calls, etc. If they work well enough people will buy two pairs to swap between while the other is charging.
I think you’re missing the point or points.
Apple AirPods could be used by many people to delay buying overpriced hearing aids.
Apple is only a few teeny-tiny baby steps away from modifying AirPods Pro to better compete against entrenched hearing aid companies, with the next generation AirPods Pro 3.
What if Apple looks at the dedicated hearing-aid market ands says to itself, “Boy, those are some fat margins, let’s take a few billion out of our couch cushions, and develop our own dedicated hearing aids.” I’m guessing Apple could easily reach their typical goal of around 30-40% profit margins and still significantly undercut traditional hearing aid makers.