Last year taught us the value of a great pair of noise-canceling headphones, which block out squabbling neighbours and whirling fans. Audio played a big role during our work-from-home existence and Sony led the category in a big way. We spoke to Mani B, product manager, audio business at Sony India, about milestones and what’s on the cards.

Last year was a good one for personal audio products. Do you think the trend will continue this year?

With work from home and learn from home becoming the new normal, we saw an exceptional demand for personal audio products in 2020. We expect this growth momentum to organically continue in 2021 due to increased awareness about the importance and utility of personal audio products in individual’s day-to-day life.

People are continuously looking for new tech in audio products. What would be some of the trends that one can expect next year?

Truly wireless and noise cancellation were the big trendsetters in personal audio segment in 2020. We will continue to launch host of new technologies in 2021, such as 360 audio experience — a new concept that is getting popular by the day in the audio segment.

Noise cancelling. How big a segment does it form for Sony and what improvements can we expect in the near future?

In terms of value business, the noise cancellation products contribute over 30 per cent of our overall headphones sales. We have introduced several top-notch models in noise cancellation segment at various price points, including our latest hit WH-1000XM4. Noise Cancellation is one of the key segments and a very strong forte of Sony. We have the Industry leading noise cancellation headphones in all the three form factors — overhead, in-ear and truly wireless.

Mani B, product manager, audio business at Sony India. Sony

If you can share a bit about the customer profile of truly wireless users….

The target customers are in the age group of 20 to 40, with urban lifestyle, frequent travellers, early adopters of technology and who prefer simplicity and sophistication, those who want to listen to music smartly with intelligent functions.

Cost of products. Do you think people are willing to spend more money when it comes to audio products?

Yes, absolutely, the average selling price of headphones has been increasing every year, especially in the premium segment. We have witnessed in the last three-four years that customers are willing to spend more for a technologically advanced product like WH-1000XM4. Additionally, there are various finance schemes which makes the purchase easy on their pocket.

It was Sony’s first year of venturing into TWS business in 2020. What has been the response?

We are quite happy with the performance of our truly wireless models in 2020. Two of our models, WF-1000XM3 and WF-XB700, have become big hits in sub 20K and sub 10K price segments respectively. Both the models have received exceptional response from customers and media.

Wireless charging of audio products. Do you see this as a trend in the coming months?

No, we don’t see this becoming a major trend soon as the market is gradually shifting towards truly wireless segment and these earbuds come with a carrying case, which have built-in power banks.