Smart wearable device market in Q4, 2018: Apple maintains its leading position with 16.2 million products shipped

Contrary to popular belief, the sales of smart wearable devices such as smartwatch, health monitoring bracelets or workout tracking devices are still growing worldwide. According to a report released by IDC yesterday, sales of the global wrist equipment market increased by 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2018, reaching a record high, up to 59.3 million units sold. . Moreover, the total number of shipments in late 2018 also reached an impressive 172.2 million units, an increase of 27.5% compared to 135 million shipments in the same period in 2017.

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It is noteworthy that IDC has recently revised its classification principle, in the direction of slightly increasing the number of items by expanding the definition of smart wearable devices, in addition to devices. Wrist strap, including smart headphones.

Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst at IDC, said the market size for ear-wear devices has grown significantly over the past year and is expected to continue to keep a steady increase in those. next year. This is the next fierce battleground for producers, besides the market for wearable devices, because these smart headphones are becoming an essential need for many modern life. The main reason lies in the convenience that these devices bring, it will eliminate all the annoyance from connecting wires or headphone jacks, which is not to have the built-in smart features. , as well as the presence of virtual assistants and biometrics in the ear. In addition, companies are also owning the perfect formula for selling products to consumers in the form of an additional ecosystem device, which can be perfectly compatible with wristbands and smartphones. , and their tablets.

According to IDC, growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 across the market is mainly driven by new wearable devices launched in the pre-holiday months, next to smartphones that come with magnetic wristbands. top brands. The popularity of earphones - a category that includes wireless headsets such as Apple AirPods, Google Pixel Buds, or Bose QC35II, etc. - also made a significant contribution. This group alone accounted for 21.9% of the market (with an increase of 66.4%) in 2018.

For smartwatch, this product line has achieved a 55.2% increase over the fourth quarter of 2017, and accounted for 34.3% of the market share of wearable devices during Q4, 2018, while smart bracelets accounted for only 30%.

More specifically, Apple is still the leading sales figure in the fourth quarter of 2018 with a total of 16.2 million units shipped, giving this manufacturer 27.4% market share (down slightly from 29.6% in 4th quarter of 2017). About 10.4 million of those shipments are Apple Watches (the remaining 5.8 million are AirPods and Beats headphones). In general, although the market share has decreased slightly, the number of units shipped by Apple increased by about 3 million units compared to the fourth quarter of 2017 (13.3 million units). If the total for 2018, Cupertino has shipped 46.2 million devices worldwide, accounting for 26.8% of the market, and increased by 39.5% compared to 2017 (33.1 million devices and 24.5% market share).

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IDC's report is more or less similar to the statistics from market research firm Strateg Analytics, which revealed last month that Apple had taken 51% of the global smartwatch market share in the quarter. 4 in 2018, with 9.2 million units of Apple Watch sold.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi is firmly in the 2nd position among the top 5 wristband equipment manufacturers in the fourth quarter of 2018, with 12.6% market share in this hypercompetitive market (compared to 11.6%). in the fourth quarter of 2017) and 7.5 million devices were shipped (compared to 5.2 million in the same period last year). Moreover, this manufacturer has also witnessed outstanding growth, up to 43.3% over the previous year. Specifically, in 2018, Xiaomi shipped a total of 23.3 million smart wristbands (up 44.6% compared to 16.1 million devices in 2017), accounting for 13.5% market share (compared to 11.9% last year). .

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In addition, another big name, Huawei, finished third in the quarter, with 5.7 million devices sold (compared to 1.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2017) and 9.6% of the market share ( compared with 3.6% in the same period last year). The manufacturer ended 2018 with a total of 11.3 million shipments, which is a huge increase, up to 147.3% compared to a total of only 4.6 million smart wearables Huawei sold in 2017, and accounted for 6.6% market share, up 2.3% compared to last year (4.3%).

Fitbit ranked fourth in Q4, 2018 with 5.5 million units shipped (up slightly from 5.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2017), owning 9.4% of the market share (down sharply from 11.9% recorded). in quarter 4, 2017). In 2018, the manufacturer sold a total of 13.8 million devices, down 10% from 15.4 million units in 2017.

For its part, Samsung shipped all 4 million wearable devices in the fourth quarter of 2018 (doubling compared to 2 million units in the same period last year), accounting for 6.8% of the market share (compared to 4.3% of the previous year). ). Samsung's growth in 2018 is estimated at 105.6%. The Korean manufacturer ended 2018 with 10.7 million shipments sold (up sharply from 5.8 million in 2017).

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The market for technology-wearing equipment in this year 2019 is expected to achieve even higher growth rates. However, competition will also be fierce. If no strategic cards are owned, anyone can be left behind.