Apple and Xiaomi lead Wearable market growth in Q1 2018, says Canalys

Canalys reports that Apple and Xiaomi are the leaders in smartwatches and wearable bands, respectively, with Apple shipping 3.8 million Apple Watches and Xiaomi shipping 3.7 million units in the first quarter of this year.

Nidhi Singal

Updated May 24, 2018 1:29 PM IST

Apple and Xiaomi lead Wearable market growth in Q1 2018, says Canalys

Driven by the strong demand for health-centric devices, the wearable market has witnessed a significant growth in the first quarter of 2018. The wearable band shipment grew by 35 per cent, year on year, in Q1 2018, reports Canalys. This includes both smartwatches and basic fitness bands.

While smartwatches accounted for 80 per cent of the wearable band revenue, up from 74 per cent during the same time last year, the shipped units were accounted at 43 per cent.

Canalys reports that Apple and Xiaomi are the leaders in smartwatches and wearable bands, respectively, with Apple shipping 3.8 million Apple Watches and Xiaomi shipping 3.7 million units in the first quarter of this year.

Of the 20.5 million wearable bands shipped in Q1 2018, the top five brands contribute to 60 per cent of the shipments. Apple and Xiaomi enjoy 18 per cent share each, closely followed by Fitbit at 11 per cent, Garmin at 7 per cent, Huawei at 6 per cent. The rest 40 per cent is shared by various fitness wearable brands.

"Key to Apple's success with its latest Apple Watch Series 3 is the number of LTE-enabled watches it has been able to push into the hands of consumers. Operators welcome the additional revenue from device sales and the added subscription revenue for data on the Apple Watch, and the list of operators that sell the LTE Apple Watch worldwide is increasing each month," says, Canalys Senior Analyst Jason Low.

Apple represents 59 per cent of the total cellular-enabled smartwatch market. He says, "While the Apple ecosystem has a strong LTE watch offering, the lack of a similar product in the Android ecosystem is glaring. If Google decides to pursue the opportunity with a rumoured Pixel Watch, it would jump-start much-needed competition in this space."

Launched in select global markets in September last year, Apple has just recently launched the Apple Watch Series 3 Cellular in India. It supports electronic SIM that makes the watch capable of calling, messaging, receiving email and other notifications on its own, without being dependent upon the Bluetooth connectivity with the iPhone or WiFi connectivity.

Garmin has also focused on its GPS expertise and is catering to endurance athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. With the new Fitbit smartwatch launch, the company too is racing to get its user upgrade to a smartwatch.

"Fitbit is betting on its newly launched Versa smartwatch, while introducing female health tracking to expand its addressable market," says Vincent Thielke, Research Analyst at Canalys.

According to the latest Canalys estimates, smartwatches (including the Blaze) made up 24 per cent of Fitbit's wearable band shipments. "Collaboration between Fitbit and Google on the Cloud Healthcare API will help Fitbit get into healthcare systems, and that is a positive move. But Fitbit's immediate cause for concern will be satisfying investors that it is selling more wearables, something it may not be able to do," adds Thielke.

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Published on: May 24, 2018 10:41 AM IST

Apple and Xiaomi lead Wearable market growth in Q1 2018, says Canalys

Canalys reports that Apple and Xiaomi are the leaders in smartwatches and wearable bands, respectively, with Apple shipping 3.8 million Apple Watches and Xiaomi shipping 3.7 million units in the first quarter of this year.

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