The majority of China's approximately 100 Bluetooth headset suppliers are export-oriented. Most makers focus on OEM and retail buyers in Europe and North America. The growing local market has, however, encouraged China manufacturers to develop their in-house brands as well.

The following are some of the key trends we see in China's Bluetooth headset industry:
- Prices will generally remain stable, despite increased competition, particularly at the entry-level segment, and incremental costs incurred from obtaining product aprovals.
- Bluetooth 2.0 headsets will remain the main focus for suppliers in the coming months, although Bluetooth 1.2 models will continue to be available. Supply of Bluetooth 1.1 models will keep diminishing.
- Mono headset models will continue to account for the bulk of manufacturers' output, but up-market stereo headset models will also gain more traction.
- Product differentiation is seen most clearly in external design. The variety of available form factors now includes clip-on, ear-hook, over-thehead, behind-the-neck, in-ear and even sunglasses.
- Interoperability with electronic A/V devices other than mobile handsets is also being underscored by manufacturers to piggyback on the growing global supply of variouselectronic A/V devices and digital audio content.

This report covers three main types of Bluetooth headsets produced in China: Bluetooth 2.0, 1.2 and 1.0. The report also covers stereo and mono headset types. Headsets that comply with higher Bluetooth versions are generally backward-compatible with earlier versions.

The key advantage of higher versions is the capability to support more Bluetooth profiles, such as advanced audio distribution profile (A2DP) and audio/video remote control profile (AVRCP), in addition to the basic headset or handsfree profiles.