You're tuned in to Roundtable.
I'm Steve Hatherly today with Yishun and Xinyu.
Coming up when people ditched wired headphones for their wireless cousins.
The decision was made with style and convenience in mind.
But speaking of minds, they've been changed and people now are going back in time to plug in again.
After that, a single apple turned heads in Paris this February, and it came from a quiet corner of China.
For decades scattered farms have become a global powerhouse.
The fruit is yummy.
The story behind it is even yummier.
Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts.
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And now...
Move over, Bluetooth.
Your time is done.
Something a little more old school is making serious noise again.
In 2026, wired headphones are back.
We're talking big numbers here.
A 20 jump in sales, plus appearances everywhere, from NBA tunnels to glossy fashion covers.
But it's not just about cheaper tech or dodging the dreaded low battery warning.
For some, especially Gen Z, plugging in feels like a way to slow things down, an escape from constant notifications and digital overload.
For others, those unmistakable white cords have become a statement piece of sorts, a kind of effortless cool that says more than any luxury logo can.
But what's going on here?
Is this just maybe a bit of nostalgic throwback, or are we seeing a reverse upgrade if that's a term in how we choose to listen to our tunes and our favorite podcast roundtable?
So what do you think?
What's behind this one?
Well, first of all, let's just talk about the trend here.
I mean, I think we can all remember, because it wasn't that long ago, when wired headphones were a thing, but then they disappeared.
Yeah, it's probably like five six, seven years ago when these wireless headphones started to get into people's eyes.
And I don't think that's a generation XYZ or alpha thing, because at least here in China, I think all age group people are using wireless earbuds now.
Yes, exactly.
All of us.
Yeah, all of us.
Grandmas and grandpas too.
Young people and everybody.
And now it is kind of getting back because I think some of the, as you said, some of the like fashion covers, celebrities are wearing them and in other scenarios people are like using these wired headphones again.
Yeah, and people are even saying that it is kind of a retro style.
Even though it's only just like five years ago, people are still using them very, very widely.
But still that kind of feeling of having two wires in front of your chest.
It's kind of giving you a sense of the year in 80s.
Yeah yeah, exactly right.
Um, the numbers we mentioned it.
Sales are up 20 percent.
Uh, in the first week of 2026.
That's from bbc.
Now it's not to say I made a joke when I started saying Bluetooth, your time is over.
No, not by a long shot.
And also, wireless headphones are still the market leader by a long shot.
So we're not saying the growth of what it's not a zero sum game.
You can have the growth of one and still the growth of the other at the same time.
Yep.
Celebrities, athletes, we're seeing it everywhere now.
This kind of I'm too cool for wireless headphones.
But if we kind of.
Step aside from the look or the aesthetic of it.
Are there practical reasons to that people are going back to wired headphones?
I mean, I remember.
The complaint, and from me too, was the tangled wires would be a pain every single time you tried to take them out.
Exactly.
When you take them out, it's always... It's like a ball.
It's like a puzzle.
It's like a Rubik's Cube.
Yeah, you will probably take... It costs you like five minutes to un...
Or you don't untangle it and you just plug it in anyway, but then you look like a loser.
Yeah, so that's why these wireless headphones, I mean the case, that feels like you're smart.
You're a smart person.
You're so sophisticated, right?
Okay.
Anyways, but for these wired headphones, they have this very big advantage, affordability.
It's cheap, much cheaper than these wireless headphones.
For example, for these Apple's AirPods, for these wired AirPods, It approximately costs about $25.
But for these wireless AirPods the price can range from 159 to up to like 669 for the max over-year versions.
So definitely it's more affordable for these wired headphones.
It's cheaper.
And also with the cheapness comes with the good sound quality as well.
Because when it comes to, I think it's proven.
And also across the industry.
It's widely acknowledged that these Bluetooth headphones headphones.
They sacrifice some of this sound quality.
So for these wired ones you can for the same amount of money.
When you buy these wired ones, the sound quality is much better.
Yeah.
I mean for the wireless headphones.
I think the quality, The audio, has improved dramatically over the years.
But to get the best you got to pay, like you said, like 700 300 400, 500.
It's just really, really, really expensive.
And they're really expensive.
It's the same here in China too, right?
The top wireless ones are really pricey yes, almost the same price range that you just uh elaborated.
And also, reliability and simplicity is another selling point of a lot of these wired headphones, because they offer a plug-and-play experience that eliminates the common frustration of bluetooth and also wireless headphones, because You need to pair them.
You need to maybe suffer from the disconnections or signal interference.
And, as one industry professional noted, that with a wire you're just plugging and it works and you don't need to worry about the battery and charging things.
Yeah yeah, i mean the blue.
The connection has never really been stressful for me like pairing difficulties.
Okay, not really when whenever i get a new pair of the wireless ones and, by the way, you can get really cheap ones now too Yeah, especially in China.
Yeah, I bought mine for I think the equivalent would be about $20 or $30 or something like that.
And they work perfectly.
Now, did I need help pairing them when I bought them?
Yeah, but the shop assistant did that for me.
It's not a big deal.
But battery anxiety, that's kind of a thing.
Because with me, and I don't know if I'm just dumb, but I never know when they're going to die.
There's no real clue when.
Until they're almost dead.
So if I'm at the gym at the beginning of a workout session and I'm going to be there for a little while and then they can die right in the beginning because there's no meter to show you when they need to be charged again,
That's kind of a legit point.
But there should be, right?
There should be some demonstration of how much battery is left.
Yeah, most of us, there is a battery bar as our mobile phone at the corner of your notification bar.
Maybe that's just my $25 one.
Maybe I need to up my game.
Anyway, yeah, that is also one of the concerns that people are using wireless headphones.
And what I do is just charge it every day so that you won't have that anxiety.
How often do you charge your wireless headphones?
Because I don't use that often.
I don't use it every single day.
Yuxin, you would be so frustrated with me because I just wait until they die.
I know, some people do that.
Then I charge them.
Anyway yeah, the anxiety of the dying battery is gone too.
Um, all right, but if this, if this trend is big, then why and i think this is a fair question if this trend is big, why did it disappear at all?
Um yeah, if we're like going really back to the original story, back then probably in 2016 um, some of these really big tech giants Started to, or decided to, remove that very, very advanced 35 millimeter headphone jack.
Yeah, product design Yeah, and then eat.
So that's a very big giant tech company started to doing that and other tech companies or car manufacturers no, not car manufacturers phone manufacturers starting to fall in suit.
And then most of the smartphones starting to, like the headphone jacks disappeared on smartphones.
And I think that is one of the initial start of the use of the wireless headphones because I think, yeah, that is quite a... smart scheme that these companies are doing they force you to make a choice buying a wireless evil evil geniuses yeah and then um industry experts also predicted that these wireless stereo headphones would become the only major category essentially making wired options obsolete through superior portability and advanced features like noise cancellation and ecological synergy like you can connect with your whole setup if you're a smart devices and advanced features like these kind of things and Which may make users embrace a more convenient way to listen while on the move and then you don't need to worry about some of these little obstacles that wired headphones may bring you.
Is there any...
So when I asked, why did the trend come back?
Maybe it's less about the cool aesthetic of the reintroduction of something retro and more about I don't want to have that sleek, sophisticated look anymore.
Wireless have gotten, they've gotten so small now that when you look at somebody, this happens to me all the time.
I'm walking down the street and somebody's talking and i think oh, it's a crazy person, like no, they're just on the phone and you can't that small yeah, you can't even see them in their ears.
Yeah right yeah, so that's the direction, right that they're going towards.
But If we're talking about Gen Z specifically, constantly connected digital, the coolest newest sleekest fastest, maybe there's a little.
I'm tired of that a little bit.
So let's go old school, at least in this one example.
Yeah.
So that's why some industry insiders they say these Gen Zers, they are going back to these wired headphones.
They see this behavior as a kind of rebellion or anti-digitalization.
So they are not moving along with the trend.
They are moving against the trend.
They want something more grounding rather than something smart or sleek.
And I think moving forward, two things can be true.
Wireless will continue to be popular.
They have 66% of the market in 2025.
That's from CNN.
But Wired can have their moment in the sun too and have their place in the market too.
So I think moving forward, we'll see both be successful.
You're listening to Roundtable.
Coming back, are China's apples the best apples?
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Then tune in to Roundtable, where East meets West and understanding is the goal.
You're tuned in to Roundtable.
I'm Steve today with Yuxuan and Xinyu.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, right?
It is a familiar saying worldwide, but here in China, this humble fruit...
There was an international agricultural fair in February 2026 in France and China's Apple's.
We're the star of the show.
This is a great story.
Tell us about it.
Actually, yes.
In this year's February, this variety called Yi Lv Hong Apple from Gansu County made its debut at this international agricultural fair in France with its golden base color.
Bright red blush and crisp sweet taste.
It unexpectedly became a hit there.
And French bloggers flooded social media asking why are Chinese apples so delicious.
And then some of the stats from the apples export also is proving that Chinese apples are really, really popular.
In 2024, fresh apple exports reached 980,900 tons.
That's up 23% year-on-year.
And concentrated apple juice also exports totaled 5.9 billion yuan.
Big business in China.
These particular apples from the French fair were cultivated at an altitude of 1300 to 1800 meters on the Loess Plateau.
And they benefit from some different things.
The soil is a great soil to grow them.
They have six out of seven key growth indicators that allow the apples to reach optimal levels.
There's no chemical pesticides that are used, so these are fantastic apples.
It sounds so funny to have a serious conversation about this, but it's true.
These apples are super, super good and the industry here in china has been around for a long time.
Yes um, If we look at decades ago, I mean in China the apple industry was more characterized by this scatter planting and limited varieties and low yields and a shortage of high quality fruit.
But if we look at China's modern apple industry today, China has already become the world's largest apple producer and consumer in the world.
I did not know that.
Yes.
The annual output of apples in China exceeds 51 million tons and the annual consumption over 47 million tons in China.
So that's a big, big number.
And we have seen great development happening in China.
Actually I can kind of tell from my daily life, because my parents, since I'm a child, they always say that apple is the best fruit you can have, because they are affordable, they're tasty and they're healthy.
And in all of the reason that it is kind of a daily lifestyle commodity, that in my home actually, you eat them every single day, not like we up my.
We will always have apples at home, always in the house.
So it's a huge industry here that's been around for a long time.
It employs tens of millions of people across 20 different provinces and In Shanxi, for example, nearly half the population is engaged in the Apple industry and the Apple income accounts for 61 of farmers' net operating income.
Did you know that?
Is this common knowledge in China?
Not really.
This is very new to me as well.
So looking forward then, the future, I guess the industry will continue to grow.
And some of these apples, because here in China, it's been developed into so many other varieties.
And the country has achieved breakthroughs in seed breeding, developing 158 apple varieties with independent individuals, intellectual property rights, and counting for 70 of new orchards.
And these varieties are tailored to different climates and soils, with improved sweetness taste, and also cold resistant and stress tolerance.
One example is that's Ney Mongguina Mongolia's Mongping No.
1.
That's the variety name of the apple.
And number two, have solved the problem of apple cultivation in cold regions.
I don't often eat apple.
In fact, I'm not a fan of apples in general.
I don't even know if I've eaten a lot of apples here in China, but I'm certainly inspired now to go to the fruit market and get some.
I just thought they tasted like every other apple I've ever had in my life, but apparently they're a lot better me neither.
I wasn't a fan of apple before, but one day in our cafeteria because they serve apple, yes and suddenly i taste that wow, that's really good.
And i think that tastes differently from my memory in my childhood.
That's why i think Maybe we need to change our mindset on Apple nowadays.
It's cool, too.
You know, because with soft power, or fruit power, I guess.
A reputation for a country can grow or coolness can be inspired from almost anywhere.
And sometimes it's from a film, Ninja.
Sometimes it's from a video game, Black Myth Wukong.
And sometimes it's from a piece of fruit at an agricultural fair in France.
And suddenly...
It just puts China on the map just a little tiny bit more culture wise, I guess.
Yeah, definitely.
We've talked about.
In different regions, we have different varieties of apples and they are getting really, really famous and we are branding them and sending them to other countries in the world.
So that's yeah.
There you go, france.
You wondered why these apples are better, and that's your answer, and that will do it for today's round table.
Thank you very much for sharing your time with us today.
I'm steve for yushun and xingyu.
We all thank you.
We ask you to have a good one and we also ask you to come back again next time.
