Dyson’s adventure into wearable technology will likely go down as a cautionary tale, not a triumph. Released in 2022 to great skepticism, the Dyson Zone was an audacious attempt to fuse noise-canceling headphones with a detachable air purification system—a device that immediately called to mind high-tech masks seen in science fiction, but rarely in city streets. In truth, most people never knew they needed such a product, and most still don’t.
From the beginning, the Zone looked outlandish. Reviewers compared its air-purifying “muzzle” to a gimp mask. The $950 price tag didn’t help matters, making it accessible only for the most diehard Dyson loyalists or those deeply anxious about urban air quality.
By the middle of 2023, it was clear the Zone was in trouble: bad reviews, poor demand, and a nearly invisible retail presence. Retailers from Best Buy and John Lewis to Walmart have all run out, with no plans to restock. Even on Dyson’s own site, you have to dig deep to find a whisper of the Zone among their more conventional products.
Jake Dyson, son of company founder James Dyson and the Zone project lead, recently spoke to WIRED about the product’s rise and fall. He admitted the Dyson team often gets ahead of themselves, prioritizing innovation over practical thinking. “We want this product. We want to make this thing. Sometimes before actually evaluating what the market response might be. And the market didn’t exist. So you’ve got to take those risks,” he said.
For all its technical ambition, the Zone aimed at a tiny market: people worried about air pollution, willing to pay a premium, and also wanting high-end headphones. “Zone was completely ahead of its time. It’s solving a problem that is quite niche,” Jake acknowledged. “We have sold thousands. And we still have the tooling—but we’ve stopped manufacturing it.”
Industry opinion has been even less forgiving. Many saw the Zone as a gimmick, especially when compared to established headphone brands with solid reputations for sound. As WIRED reports, retailers and critics alike found it odd and unattractive, with some suggesting the legacy of pandemic-era mask-wearing doomed it from the start.
Dyson’s subsequent OnTrac headphones, which skip the purification tech, have been much better received, praised for their design and sound quality—and outselling the Zone tenfold in their first year. For Dyson, it’s a lesson in market listening and responding to what everyday consumers actually want: comfort, good audio, and wearable aesthetics, not just new tech for its own sake.
Jake Dyson maintains the Zone wasn’t a failure, but a valuable learning experience. “We never deem anything to be a failure, because we always learn something,” he noted.
The grand experiment of the Zone highlights an essential truth for any future wearable: technical brilliance isn’t enough. Wearables need to look—and feel—good to capture the mainstream. As Jake himself put it: “People really do care about what it looks like when it’s on your head.”
For all its misses, Dyson’s reputation for persistence and innovation remains intact. As it focuses on the OnTrac and learns from its rare flop, Dyson aims to build a meaningful presence in the competitive world of premium headphones.
https://www.youtube.com/user/wired/
Read the full article and more at WIRED:
https://www.wired.com/story/dyson-has-killed-its-bizarre-zone-air-purifying-headphones/