Portable Media Player Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Product Type (Audio Players, Video Players), By Storage Media (Flash-Based Players, Networked Audio Players, Memory Card-Based Audio Players, Others), By Distribution Channel (Offline, Online) And Regional Forecast, 2024-2032

Media players are widely popular among people as they can listen to music at any place with such products. They are available in different shapes and memory sizes in the market. Media players with music streaming services inbuilt in it are widely popular among the youngsters as they can listen to songs from such players without paying for additional music streaming services. Consumers increasingly use Bluetooth technology-based audio media players to connect such devices with sound bars and smartphones easily.

Nowadays, companies are offering innovative media players to expand their portfolio of such products. For instance, in July 2018, IRIVER Inc., a South Korean consumer electronics company, launched Activo CT10, an innovative touchscreen-based digital media player with the ability to playback high-resolution audio files and be connected to the streaming services.

Nowadays, companies are focusing on regularly upgrading their music player product line by introducing newer music or video content features on their existing line of products or launching newer music players. This is likely to attract the users towards buying such products which thereby, drives the market growth. For instance, in December 2019, Mighty Audio, a U.S. based portable music player company, launched the Amazon Music feature for its portable, streaming music player products. The company's users can enjoy on-the-go music streaming with their existing players or newer music players without any necessity of internet connection or smartphone.

Besides this, the uncertain occurrence of the COVID-19 and lockdown restriction in many countries shifted the consumer preference towards availing audio music streaming services. This is likely to spike the consumer demand for portable media players as they are widely used by the users in listening to such streaming songs. The evolving global music industry is further likely to drive the demand for such products. Additionally, growing consumer spending for entertainment-related services is expected to ease the use of such goods and thereby fuel market growth.

However, people widely listen to songs from their smartphones and tablet devices. This is anticipated to restrain the market growth. Additionally, frequent necessities of such products' repairing are expected to limit such a product's demand.

Key Players Covered:

The prominent players associated with the global portable media player market are Apple Inc., The Samsung Group, Creative Technology Ltd., Western Digital Corporation, Sony Corporation, Archos, Microsoft Corporation, Philips Koninklijke N.V., Coby Electronics Corporation, Zhuhai Spark Electronic Equipment Co., and others.

The global portable media player market is segmented based on product type, storage media, distribution channel, and geography.

Based on the product type, the market is segmented into audio players and video players. People widely prefer to listen to music from the audio media players while working or traveling. This makes the audio players' segment to exhibit a significant share of the market. Additionally, growing technology up-grading related to the media storage in such audio devices is further likely to attract the users towards buying them, thereby driving the segmental growth.

By storage media, the global market is segmented into flash-based players, networked media players, memory card-based audio players, and others. The flash-based players' segment is expected to exhibit a significant share of the global market due to the cost-effectiveness of such items over other types. Additionally, the factors such as lesser battery requirements, large storage capacity, least skip duration of the player during playback, etc., results in the larger revenues from such kind of product.

By distribution channel, the global market is segmented into offline and online. The offline segment is expected to hold the largest share of the portable media player market as users can buy media players along with the variety of other consumer electronic devices at a single place in these stores. Additionally, companies are largely focusing on selling their media players from franchise stores and supermarkets to get trade discounts from such stores. This will provide ease in the offline segmental revenues.   

Regional Analysis:

By geography, the global portable media player market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa.

People commonly use media players to listen to series from different kind of podcast streaming services. Therefore, the presence of a large number of podcast users in the United States and Canada results in the larger revenues of the media player products from the North American region. According to the data presented by the Podcast Hosting Organisation in December 2020, nearly 68 million U.S. population preferred to listen to podcasts at least once a week. In addition, the rising trend of consuming recent audio and video media content from such devices is further driving market growth in the region.

Faster growth of the Asia Pacific region is attributed to the recent launches of innovative, portable media players by the associated companies in countries such as China and South Korea. The introduction of such innovative products is likely to attract the users towards buying them, thereby driving the market growth. For instance, in April 2020, Astell&Kern, a South Korean manufacturer of digital audio players, launched A&norma SR25, a portable digital audio player of high-class sound quality in the local market.

Additionally, growing awareness regarding the availability of the variety of audio and video media players among the people is further likely to drive the market growth in the region.

Segmentation

Key Industry Developments:

• In August 2020, Goldmedal Electricals Pvt. Ltd., a Pune, India based electrical switches and systems manufacturing company launched i-Sense FM Bluetooth Music Player (3M) specifically for the remote working professionals.


• In August 2020, MQA Ltd., a U.K. based music technology company partnered with Chinese digital audio player manufacturers such as Zhuhai Spark Electronic Equipment Co., Ltd, iBasso, and HiBy Music to sell partners’ digital audio players across the international markets through its popular Xiami music streaming service.