14 DAY TRIAL // The third quarter of the year brought a massive decline for the Apple Watch, as sales of the world’s number one smartwatch went down over 35 percent, according to market research firm IDC.
However, a recent report published by the company reveals that Apple remained the number one company in the wearable market thanks to a solid performance from AirPods and Beats.
Apple therefore controls 28.8 percent of the market, ahead of Samsung and Xiaomi, both with 9.2 percent.
But Samsung itself has also performed strongly during the third quarter.
“Samsung's recent launch of the Galaxy Watch 4 Series has been well received and is a significant step forward for the watch maker and Google, thanks to the move from Tizen to Wear OS. Not only has Samsung focused on growing its wearables business by bundling its hearables, watches, and bands with smartphones, but the company is also attempting to steal wallet share from fashion spending with the launch of bespoke edition watches,” IDC says.
Huawei still going strong
The market increased 9.9 percent the last quarter with 138.4 million units sold to customers worldwide. Xiaomi recorded the biggest fall (23.8 percent), therefore dropping on the third place in the charts with 12.7 million sold units.
“Xiaomi's shipments fell 23.8% during the quarter as the company's reliance on wristbands and consumer preference for watches acted against it. The company has begun to transition from wristbands to watches and has also persisted in its expansion beyond China though these efforts are also heavily dependent on the success of its smartphone business in international markets,” IDC says.
Huawei continues to be fourth in the chart with a 3.7 percent growth recorded the last quarter, just ahead of Imagine Marketing, the company that has now reached a share of 7.2 percent.