14 DAY TRIAL // New data shared by IDC for the first quarter of 2020 shows that wearable sales actually increased year over year by no less than 29.7%, which is more or less surprising given the current health crisis.
But on the other hand, smartwatches are the ones that suffered the most, although as IDC shows, sales of other form factors managed to deal with the decline overall.
Apple itself is the king of wearables with sales of no less than 21.2 million units during the quarter, up from no less than 13.3 million units in Q1 2019.
IDC says Apple Watch sales themselves declined, but the demand for the AirPods remained strong.
“Apple was once again the top wearables company with 29.3% share and 21.2 million units. While Apple Watch shipments declined due to difficulties in the supply chain, the strength of the Beats and AirPods lineup was more than enough to offset the negative growth,” the company says.
Fitbit decline
Xiaomi was the runner-up in the charts with 10.1 million sold units, followed by Samsung and Huawei with 8.6 million and 8.1 million units, respectively. Fitbit, which was once considered the top competitor for Apple, is now far behind with 2.2 million units.
Fitbit announced in late 2019 it would be acquired by Google, with the deal expected to be completed this year.
And while Fitbit’s sales are below last year’s figures, IDC says the Fitbit Charger 4 itself helped fuel the wristband category and record an increase of no less than 16.2 percent during the quarter.
As for why consumers are buying fewer smartwatches and more smart earbuds, it’s because of the benefits of the latter.
"Consumers were clamouring for these sophisticated earpieces not only for the ability to playback audio but also to help them increase productivity, as many of them were forced to work from home and sought ways to reduce surrounding noise while staying connected to their smartphones and smart assistants,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers.
All companies, however, are now betting big on the remainder of the year to increase smartwatch sales, especially as the market is recovering after the global lockdown.