China's Online Earphone Market: Open-Ear at 18% of Wireless
By Jotham Lim
5 min read
Online sales of earphones and headphones on three of China's largest online marketplaces were CN¥ 34.7 billion in 2025, 2.5% less than in 2024, according to Moojing Market Intelligence. The number of items sold fell 5.1%, while the average price rose slightly. Wireless earphones whose title calls them open (开放式), the measure used here for open-ear or OWS (open wearable stereo) models, took 18.4% of wireless earphone sales, up from 16.9%. Listings using another seller term for open-ear models fell, so the trend for open-ear earphones as a whole is not clear. Sales of wireless earphones whose title says bone conduction fell 16.1%, and in January to April 2026 earphone sales were 3.4% higher than a year earlier.
Key figures
- CN¥ 34.7 billion: online sales of earphones and headphones in 2025, 2.5% less than in 2024
- 18.4%: open-ear earphones' share of wireless earphone sales in 2025, measured by product title, up from 16.9%, or CN¥ 5.5 billion
- CN¥ 3.9 billion: sales of bone conduction earphones in 2025, measured by product title, 16.1% less than in 2024
- 40.1%: the share of wireless earphone sales priced at CN¥ 1,000 or more in 2025, up from 36.3%
- +3.4%: growth in online earphone sales in January to April 2026 on the same months of 2025
Method and scope: observed online sales of earphones and headphones on three of China's largest online marketplaces, 2025 against 2024, and January to April 2026 against the same months of 2025, from Moojing Market Intelligence. Earphones means wireless earphones, wired earphones and over-ear headphones as the marketplaces file them. No marketplace lists open-ear or bone conduction earphones as a category of its own, so both are measured by product title within wireless earphones. Open-ear earphones are listings whose title calls them open (开放式), and bone conduction earphones are listings whose title says bone conduction (骨传导). A listing can be both, so the two are not added together. This is online sales only, not the total market.
How big is China's online earphone market?#
Online earphone sales on the three marketplaces were CN¥ 34.7 billion in 2025, against CN¥ 35.6 billion in 2024, as the number of items sold fell 5.1% while the average price rose from CN¥ 181.4 to CN¥ 186.3. Wireless earphones make up most of the category, at CN¥ 29.8 billion.
| 2024 | 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All earphones and headphones | CN¥ 35.6 billion | CN¥ 34.7 billion | −2.5% |
| Wireless earphones | CN¥ 30.6 billion | CN¥ 29.8 billion | −2.6% |
| of which open-ear, by title | CN¥ 5.2 billion | CN¥ 5.5 billion | +5.8% |
| of which bone conduction, by title | CN¥ 4.7 billion | CN¥ 3.9 billion | −16.1% |
Exhibit 1. Source: Moojing Market Intelligence, observed online sales on three of China's largest online marketplaces, 2025 against 2024. Open-ear and bone conduction earphones are measured by product title and overlap. Not the total market.
Sales picked up at the start of 2026. Online earphone sales in January to April 2026 were CN¥ 10.2 billion, 3.4% higher than in the same months of 2025, and wireless earphones grew 3.6%.
How big is China's open-ear (OWS) earphone market?#
Wireless earphones whose title calls them open sold CN¥ 5.5 billion online in 2025, or 18.4% of wireless earphone sales, up from 16.9% in 2024. Their average price was CN¥ 233.1, against CN¥ 193.5 for wireless earphones as a whole. Their sales rose 5.8% on 3.4% fewer items, so the gain came from a higher average price.
Whether open-ear earphones as a whole grew in 2025 is not clear from titles. Sellers also describe open-ear models as not in-ear (不入耳), and listings using that term sold about a third less in 2025 than in 2024, so we do not read a trend for the whole segment from the open-ear figure alone. Listings whose title calls them open kept gaining share in early 2026, selling CN¥ 1.7 billion in January to April, 10.5% more than a year earlier, and taking 19.6% of wireless earphone sales. Their average price rose from CN¥ 199.4 to CN¥ 266.7 while the number sold fell 17.4%, and because the not in-ear term was not measured for these months, the same caution applies to them.
What happened to bone conduction earphones?#
Sales of wireless earphones whose title says bone conduction fell 16.1% in 2025 to CN¥ 3.9 billion, on 25.0% fewer items sold, and their share of wireless earphone sales fell from 15.2% to 13.1%. The fall continued in January to April 2026, when sales were 19.9% lower than a year earlier and the share was 10.5%.
Are Chinese consumers trading up on earphones?#
Only in part, because wireless earphone sales grew at both the top and the bottom of the price range. Wireless earphones priced at CN¥ 1,000 or more grew 7.5% in 2025 to CN¥ 11.9 billion and took 40.1% of wireless earphone sales, up from 36.3%, and wireless earphones under CN¥ 100 grew 6.2%. Sales between CN¥ 100 and CN¥ 600 fell by about a sixth.
| Price per item | Share of 2024 sales | Share of 2025 sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under CN¥ 100 | 13.7% | 15.0% | +6.2% |
| CN¥ 100 to 300 | 28.3% | 24.3% | −16.4% |
| CN¥ 300 to 600 | 13.9% | 11.9% | −16.2% |
| CN¥ 600 to 1,000 | 7.7% | 8.6% | +9.1% |
| CN¥ 1,000 and above | 36.3% | 40.1% | +7.5% |
Exhibit 2. Source: Moojing Market Intelligence, observed online sales of wireless earphones on three of China's largest online marketplaces, 2025 against 2024, by price per item. Not the total market. Figures may not sum because of rounding.
What does this mean for earphone brands in China?#
In 2025 wireless earphone sales moved towards the two ends of the price range, while the middle, between CN¥ 100 and CN¥ 600, lost share. Earphones sold as open cost more on average than wireless earphones as a whole and took a larger share of wireless sales, although listings described as not in-ear fell, so the trend for open-ear models as a whole is not clear. Bone conduction earphones lost share in both 2025 and early 2026.
Earlier editions#
This is the 2025 edition of our coverage of China's open-ear and wireless earphone market. Earlier editions measured different periods and defined open-ear earphones differently, in some cases on a single marketplace, so their figures are not comparable with the ones above. They covered open-ear headphones and learning tablets in Q1 2024, OWS earphones and AI smart-home devices in H1 2024, OWS earphones and action cameras in 2024 and OWS earphones and a fragmenting audio wearables market in 2024.
This content adheres to Moojing's editorial standards .
Frequently Asked Questions
Online sales of earphones and headphones on three of China's largest online marketplaces were CN¥ 34.7 billion in 2025, 2.5% less than in 2024, according to Moojing Market Intelligence. Wireless earphones made up CN¥ 29.8 billion of that. Sales in January to April 2026 were 3.4% higher than in the same months of 2025. These are online sales only, not the total market.
Wireless earphones whose listing title calls them open (开放式), one seller description of open-ear or OWS models, sold CN¥ 5.5 billion on three of China's largest online marketplaces in 2025, according to Moojing Market Intelligence. That was 18.4% of wireless earphone sales, up from 16.9% in 2024, at an average price of CN¥ 233.1, and the share reached 19.6% in January to April 2026. Listings that describe open-ear models as not in-ear (不入耳) sold about a third less in 2025 than in 2024, so the trend for open-ear earphones as a whole is not clear from titles.
No. Online sales of wireless earphones whose title says bone conduction fell 16.1% in 2025 to CN¥ 3.9 billion on three of China's largest online marketplaces, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, and their share of wireless earphone sales fell from 15.2% to 13.1%. Sales in January to April 2026 were 19.9% lower than a year earlier.
