The Reason Why Bluetooth Earbuds Are So Cheap Now

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

These days, it seems like almost everything uses Bluetooth technology. However, many people associate Bluetooth technology with earbuds, and for good reason. You can listen to your favorite tunes anywhere you want, and often without breaking the bank. Just search sites like Amazon, and you will find no shortage of inexpensive Bluetooth earbuds. 

So how can manufacturers afford to sell earbuds so cheaply? The most obvious answer is simple economics. The more popular Bluetooth earbuds become, the more factories manufacture them, and this tug-of-war between supply and demand leads to mass production. Factories churn out veritable tidal waves of products; since this method is more efficient than other manufacturing strategies, each item costs less to produce, and the savings are passed on to customers. But cost-cutting methods for Bluetooth earbuds often go much deeper.

According to CNET, Bluetooth earbuds fall into two categories: "From the ground up" and "off the shelf." The more expensive ones are the former, as they are designed to be unique, although every now and then a company will license out its designs to other manufacturers for an extra influx of cash. The cheaper ones, however, often draw from similar designs. Little in the way of innovation, just factories churning out barebones clones. Sometimes these earbuds mimic popular brands and sell them at a fraction of the cost. That's not to say these alternative products are always bad. In fact, many inexpensive wireless earbuds punch well above their weight class (and price point), but you'd be forgiven for making that assumption.

The sad reality of Bluetooth earbuds is that the inexpensive ones are often built with cheap components. These manufacturing decisions will often negatively impact the sound quality. To be fair, Bluetooth earbuds and headphones tend to sound worse than headphones that use 2.4 GHz dongles, which in turn sound worse than wired headphones. While you can still find plenty of quality wireless and Bluetooth earbuds (and by extension awesome household Bluetooth speakers) if you know where to look, these models are generally expensive. If you buy cheap Bluetooth earbuds, don't expect the audio quality to knock your socks off.

Build quality is another issue that plagues cheap Bluetooth earbuds. The cheaper earbuds often feel less solid than their more expensive alternatives and can run into any number of issues, ranging from syncing issues to just outright bricking. That's not to say expensive earbuds don't have their share of problems, as the more an item is produced, the more they encounter mechanical and programming hiccups due to simple statistics; it's just that cheap electronics, such as earbuds, are more likely to encounter issues due to all the manufacturing process shortcuts that keep costs down.

While there's nothing wrong with trying to save money when buying Bluetooth earbuds (or other pieces of Bluetooth technology), going for the absolute cheapest option might not be the best idea. When shopping around, try to find a middle ground between savings and quality. It's more frugal to buy a kinda inexpensive product that will last for years and give you good sound quality than a pair of dirt-cheap earbuds that sound horrible and will break after a few months.