Hyderabad: Apple has dominated the wrist-worn market with its Apple Watch offerings for the last few years. However, a new report from International Data Corporation (IDC) claims a change in the rankings with Chinese ICT infrastructure and smart devices provider Huawei surpassing the iPhone maker to secure the top spot in the global wrist-worn wearable market for the first three quarters of 2024.
According to the report, Huawei registered a year-over-year (YoY) growth rate of 44.3 per cent for Q1-Q3 2024 and claimed a 16.9 per cent market share. The company is followed by Apple with 16.2 per cent share, which saw a YoY decline of 12.8 per cent in the same period. The other companies on the list include Xiaomi with a 14.7 per cent market share, Samsung with an 8.3 per cent share, and BBK with a 5.6 per cent share. Let's take a detailed look at the rankings.
Huawei: The report mentioned that in the third quarter of 2024, Huawei's GT5 and GT5 Pro models as well as the Watch D2 had major contributions for most sales that helped in the continuous and stable growth of the company in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
Apple: Apple temporarily returned to its top spot in the wrist-worn market in the third quarter with the launch of the Watch Series 10. With fierce global competition, Apple faces challenges from wrist-worn devices across various price segments. Though Apple Watch remains the market leader, innovation is key to maintaining this position, IDC says.
Xiaomi: Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi secured the third spot with an impressive growth of 26.5 per cent year over year. As per IDC's report, the growth can be credited to the newly launched Xiaomi Band 9 and the Xiaomi Watch 5 Series.
Samsung: The Korean tech giant Samsung is in the fourth position with its recently launched seventh-generation wrist-worn wearable devices. The new device helped the company to register a growth of 24.3 per cent YoY.
BBK Electronics: The fifth spot is secured by China's BBK Electronics. The company mainly focuses on kids' wrist-worn watch products and is a leader in China's kids' watch market. The company is also expanding into overseas markets and enhancing its international presence through the IMOO brand.
Furthermore, the report also suggests that China has become the largest wrist-worn market in the world with 45.8 million units sold this year, amounting to 20.1 per cent growth YoY. On the other hand, sales in the United States and India saw a decline compared to last year.
