According to research firm Mintel, sales of MP3 players have dramatically decreased this year due to the emergence of smartphones.
Sales of MP3 players dropped by almost $177 million, or 22 percent, to $613 million this year when compared to figures from 2011. Mintel believes that sales will halve again by 2017. In its "worst case" scenario, it foresees that sales of MP3 players could decrease to $40 million within five years.
The popularity of smartphones, which performs the same functions and also offers the ability to make telephone calls, connect to the internet and access apps, in recent years (especially during 2012) has diminished the need for MP3 player functionality, which makes owning an iPod unnecessary.
By the autumn of 2010, around 275 million iPods had been sold globally. However, Samuel Gee, a technology analyst at Mintel, said that the decline in MP3 sales is "unlikely to reverse".
"It is impossible to talk about the current PMP market without extensive reference to smartphones. The devices have directly contributed to the sharp decline in the value of PMP sales."
He continued on to say that MP3 players are being "steadily outshone" by affordable new technologies including smartphones. Ian Fogg, a technology analyst at research company IHS, added that smartphones are becoming as popular as the iPod once was.
Apple recently confirmed that it had sold 5.3 million iPods globally within its most recent financial quarter, representing a decrease of 19 percent when compared to the same period in 2011.
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"The convenience of a smartphone is greater than an MP3 player because it is always with someone. It also provides more choice of mobile music because someone can play back their own music – as they can on a MP3 player – but they can also access other music services like Last FM or Spotify. Therefore there is a greater choice of music available."
According to figures released in October, more than one billion smartphones have been purchased globally. Consulting firm Strategy Analytics said that increasing demand for smartphones is likely to increase that figure to over two billion within the next three years.
During the third quarter of 2012, smart-connected devices (PCs, smartphones and tablets) shipped 303.6 million units.
Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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joytech22 Well considering everything nowdays plays MP3's and that phones themselves generally last a full day with normal usage (And can go for days just playing MP3's), why would anybody need anything else? It's just a pain to carry more than one device capable of the same thing.Reply
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velocityg4 I never bothered with the iPod. Mainly because my last stereo car stereo was stolen and I never replaced it. I didn't have a car radio again until I got a new car five or six years later. I wasn't about to drop another $2,000 on a stereo.Reply
My iPhone was my first handheld MP3 player. Now that I've used it some for music in my car. It has made me want to get an iPod. I just hate it when I'm trying to listen to music and the playback gets interrupted my a ringing phone. So perhaps one day I'll buy one.
Although I'm sure that the smartphone has had some effect. Perhaps there are some bigger factors. Such as people not having as much money in the current economy for such luxury items with no practical use just entertainment. Also I imagine that most interested in an MP3 player already own one. Why buy a new iPod when your sevem year old model plays the same music? -
tanjo Unless you have $10,000 worth of songs, it's pretty useless to buy high capacity MP3 players.Reply -
rawoysters I use a Shuffle for working out. I clip it on the back of my hat and wind the wires thru it.Reply -
reprotected I still carry around a Sansa Clip Zip since the Galaxy S2 is installed with a really bad DAC.Reply -
Still use my mp3 player, an old Sansa that got new life thanks to Rockbox. I still haven't found a need for a cell phone, and I'm not sure I'd get one just for mp3s when a player costs much less. So I hope a few will still keep making mp3 players so I can still find a good one whenever mine expires. (And maybe there is hope for many more years, since Sony still makes portable CD players today. ;) )Reply
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assasin32 cheesemonStill use my mp3 player, an old Sansa that got new life thanks to Rockbox. I still haven't found a need for a cell phone, and I'm not sure I'd get one just for mp3s when a player costs much less. So I hope a few will still keep making mp3 players so I can still find a good one whenever mine expires. (And maybe there is hope for many more years, since Sony still makes portable CD players today. )Reply
Hmm kind of surprised there are still people who haven't found a use for a cell phone. I know where I live I can't even find a single pay phone. So it's either use a cell phone, try to borrow one from someone (friend/family/stranger), or hope the person at the nearest business will let you use theirs. I think my college even removed all payphones.
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tydalwave tanjoUnless you have $10,000 worth of songs, it's pretty useless to buy high capacity MP3 players.And that is the reason Xbox Music (previously known as Zune Pass) is the better option. My daughter uses the Zune HD and has almost 7000 songs on it, I have a WP8 (HTC 8x) with already 20 albums on it, all for only $9.99/mon. It boggles my mind to think people actually pay the $.99 per song, where $10 bucks gets you access to over 40 million songs and you get to keep 10 songs a month. So pretty much free music...Reply