Xiaomi Beats Apple in Wearable Devices Shipments in
Q3 2018: IDCIndo-Asian News Service, 04 December 2018
HIGHLIGHT
BAND 3 IN INDIA AND OTHER
MARKETS BEYOND CHINA, XIAOMI GRABBED THE TOP POSITION WITH 21.5 PERCENT MARKET
SHARE IN THE GLOBAL WEARABLE SEGMENT IN THE THIRD QUARTER AS APPLE CAME SECOND
WITH 13.1 PERCENT SHARE, THE INTERNATIONAL DATA CORPORATION
Though
typically China accounts for well over 80 percent
of Xiaomi's shipment
volume, that share fell to 61 percent as the company managed to grow its
presence in other markets such as India, Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
Xiaomi shipped 6.9 million wearables as compared to
4.2 million by Apple. Fitbit at
third placed shipped 3.5 million wearablesMany of the new basic wearables
include features like notifications or simple app integrations that bleed
into smartwatch territory."This has helped satiate consumer demand for
more capable devices while also maintaining average selling prices in
a market that faces plenty of downward pressure from low-cost vendors and
declining smartwatch pricing," said Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst
for IDC Mobile Device Trackers.
"As
more features get added and as the price differential between basic trackers
and smartwatches narrows, brands could potentially move consumers upstream to
smartwatches," he added.
New
products from the likes of Fitbit, Garmin, and Huaweihelped
the basic wearables category return to growth during the quarter, said IDC.
Another
driving factor was growing demand in markets like Asia-Pacific (excluding
Japan), which accounted for more than half of all shipments
and grew 21.4 percent over the previous year.
"The
smartwatch market also evolved during the quarter as the two largest smartwatch
brands, Apple and Fitbit, continued to delve deeper into the healthcare
market," said Ubrani.
Apple
managed to launch its Series 4 Watch, its first watch approved for
medical use, towards the end of the quarter.
The
new design and sizes along with the latest version of Watch OS were welcome
changes though the latest series only accounted for less than 20 percent of
all Apple Watch shipments, said IDC
Huawei
finished just ahead of Samsung to maintain its number four
position worldwide, emphasizing its newest "TalkBand B5" series of
wristbands.
Samsung
closed some of the gap with Huawei and stretched its lead past other
contenders, capturing the fifth position for the quarter.
The
company launched its next generation smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch, marking the first time that a
wearable device moved away from its traditional "Gear" moniker to the
"Galaxy" sub-brand, said IDC.
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