Wearables shipments up 90 per cent last year as Apple gains market share with AirPods, Xiaomi loses ground

Worldwide shipments of wearable devices jumped nearly 90 per cent year on year to 336.5 million in 2019
Xiaomi maintained second spot even though its market share declined slightly to 12.4 per cent from 13.1 per cent

Apple

Coco Fengin Beijing

Published: 5:00pm, 12 Mar 2020

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Worldwide shipments of wearable devices jumped nearly 90 per cent year on year to 336.5 million in 2019, with Apple boosting its overall share thanks to its best selling AirPods while top Chinese maker Xiaomi lost some ground, according to market research firm IDC.

Last year also marked a move towards so-called hearables, such as AirPods from Apple, with the US company leading the overall global wearables market with a 31.7 per cent share, up from 27 per cent a year before, mainly thanks to a refreshed line up of AirPods, AirPods Pro and Apple Watch, according to the report published Tuesday.

Xiaomi, famous for its affordable watches and wristbands, maintained second spot even though its market share declined slightly to 12.4 per cent from 13.1 per cent. IDC said the proportion of wristbands within Xiaomi's overall wearables portfolio fell to 73.3 per cent in the fourth quarter from 81.8 per cent a year earlier, “reflecting a growing trend towards hearables and, to a lesser extent, watches landing in China.”

“Hearables were the big story due to new product introductions and more smartphones cutting the cord with traditional earphones, practically driving users to purchase a hearable. Not to be overshadowed were smartwatches and fitness trackers, which both posted record annual volumes from an abundance of lower-cost models,” said Ramon Llamas, research director for IDC’s wearables team.

Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies came in at third and fourth place, both seeing an uptick in market share, from 6.9 per cent to 9.2 per cent, and 6.3 per cent to 8.3 per cent, respectively.

The coronavirus might convert more people to smart wearables

Key to Samsung’s gains were its Galaxy Active and Active 2 smartwatches, and the strategy to bundle wearables with its smartphones, which helped strengthen its distribution with carriers.

Wristbands accounted for the vast majority of Huawei's shipments in the sector but the company added several new hearables to its portfolio, helping it stay aligned with other market leaders, IDC said.

Analysts say the wearable industry will be adversely affected this year by the novel coronavirus epidemic. “The shipping volume of wearables in China, an important manufacturing hub, will be affected negatively to a certain degree,” said Sophie Pan, research manager of IDC China.

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