5 ways headphones are going to change in 2027

I’ve been covering the headphone industry for fifteen years now, and in that time I’ve learned not only where the industry has been — but also where it’s headed. As I’m usually one of the first people to see new product releases and where the industry is headed writ large, I’d like to give you a peek behind the curtain to show you where things are headed. Who knows? Maybe something interests you enough to hold off on making an impulse buy so you can get what you really want.

More headphones will have removable batteries

By far the biggest change to headphones and earbuds will be the result of the European Union. In 2023, the collection of countries agreed to enforce regulation on consumer electronics, forcing any sold within the EU from 2027 on to allow for user-removable batteries. Now, what “user removable” means for the EU may differ from how you define it, but the text of the regulation is pretty reasonable. Specifically:

A portable battery should be considered to be removable by the end-user when it can be removed with the use of commercially available tools and without requiring the use of specialized tools, unless they are provided free of charge, or proprietary tools, thermal energy or solvents to disassemble it. — REGULATION (EU) 2023/1542

Of course, this does mean that swapping batteries can still take some effort: by this definition, the Sony WH-1000XM6 is compliant, for example. But the days of you having to risk breaking your headphones forever by forcing open some glued-together chassis pieces will be over soon. If you’re about to buy a set of cans that you want to keep long-term, you may want to get a smartphone repair kit for your home, as it has a lot of little tools in one place that can make the process of swapping a battery a breeze.

We’ve already seen several headphone manufacturers offer user-replaceable batteries since — Fairphone, for one, has been very eager to do this. SteelSeries, Sony, and notably Sennheiser have all released models of headphones that are compliant with this new regulation. With any luck, the threat of losing the EU market as a whole for mass-produced consumer headphones will be enough for manufacturers to make standard designs allowing everyone to maintain their headphones more easily. But there is a loophole to this law — which brings us to our next change.

More earbuds will be waterproof

Earbuds are extremely difficult to design with replaceable batteries in mind — though it isn’t impossible. But the above EU regulation allows for an exception to the user-replaceable battery rule:

…the following products incorporating portable batteries may be designed in such a way as to make the battery removable and replaceable only by independent professionals:

(a) appliances specifically designed to operate primarily in an environment that is regularly subject to splashing water, water streams or water immersion, and that are intended to be washable or rinseable

So if the earbuds are IPX7, they meet this requirement. Luckily for most earbud manufacturers, it’s a lot easier to meet this threshold than it is to make earbuds with replaceable batteries. So you’ll see a lot of earbuds in 2027 crowing about their water resistance seemingly out of nowhere. Many products already offer this kind of resistance, and won’t have to go back to the drawing board for continued sale in the EU. Maybe you will be able to shower with earbuds soon after all.

Headphone replacement parts will be more important

You might have missed it, but audio gear jumped up significantly in cost through 2025 by an average of 12.4%, outpacing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in August 2025 over the same time in 2024 (2.1%). There are lots of reasons for this, due in part to tariffs and other international difficulties. But the long and short of it is that headphones, like most audio gear, will continue to climb in price faster than other products in the next couple years because disruptions to supply chains persist.

With the one-two punch of user replaceable batteries becoming the norm and a much higher cost to entry for things like active noise canceling (ANC) headphones, the company that cracks affordably supporting its expensive products for the long haul will reap the rewards. Of course, that’s if a company is able to make affordable pads, driver replacements, and battery packs cheaply available everywhere. It may take an effort akin to CMF’s products offering style customization for padding, or other add-on features that work across models to make this a reality, however.

But the benefits to consumers would be that their investment into audio will have a lot more staying power with the ability to properly maintain their equipment. Now that audio quality has improved in consumer headphones as much as it has, the main driver behind buying new headphones every so often is wear on the parts — not even the newer features. Solve this, and more people will stay with their chosen brand’s products for longer — though new unit sales will likely go down.

Cameras in earbuds will spark backlash

I don’t know how, but it seems like I’m one of very few who remembers the whole “glassholes” controversy back when Google released its smart glasses privacy nightmare. It got so bad that the company even released a “Dos and don’ts” guide so users of the Google Glass didn’t earn well-deserved ire from others. You’d think after Meta’s version catching recent heat, that Apple would be dissuaded from doing something nobody wants. But God bless ’em, they’re allegedly forging ahead with cameras in AirPods anyway.

“Standing alone in the corner of a room staring at people while recording them through Glass is not going to win you any friends.” — Google

While I’m fully cognizant of how low-res cameras can offer some cool features — and I agree the idea is promising — the tradeoff is a question mark for privacy. Even if everything is done “right,” not many will appreciate constantly being on camera. Ever run into an “influencer” in the wild shoving a smartphone in your face to record stuff? Yeah. “Give me more constant surveillance” said no-one, ever. Heck, I’m on YouTube videos frequently and even I hate being on camera! I wonder if this will continue the minor resurgence of wired headphones — as a signal that you’re not recording everyone around you when you pop in earbuds.

Though it’s certainly possible that in the specific case of Apple’s AirPods, privacy issues have been taken seriously, I wish more big tech firms would consider a subverted design to prevent risks from happening in the first place. Though an idea can be pure-hearted, there will be people misusing tools for their advantage if given the opportunity. There are just too many jerks in the world to prevent all abuses of a powerful feature, and other companies’ efforts to popularize always-on cameras doesn’t make the central issue go away. Then again, the hoovering up of personal data from people isn’t exactly a new concern.

Firmware updates will have raised stakes

Firmware updates drive me — and many others — absolutely bonkers when things go awry — but they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, you’ll likely see more headphone companies attempt to add more app-based features to their products as wireless headphone sales slow down. With the advent of more AI-driven features and the need to monetize headphones in more ways than just the checkout counter, these new revenue streams are probably going to come part and parcel with big app and firmware changes. Unfortunately, this means there’s a risk your headphones wind up not suiting your needs over time.

There’s always the risk that a firmware update will fail, make your headphones perform differently, or remove features you rely on. However, if you’re going to hold onto your headphones for longer: there’s a greater chance you’ll have to deal with this at some point. Many may not want to update their headphones for fear of something like what happened when Bose updated its QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen.) headphones. But, if you want to make sure that you don’t become a victim of headphones’ ever-increasing vulnerability to security and privacy concerns: staying on top of these updates is a necessity.

Though several companies have now had to address really bad fumbles on the user experience side due to app issues and firmware troubles, this isn’t something that’s easy to prevent. Sometimes issues don’t present themselves until you push your latest update to production — and that’s when all hell breaks loose.