Apple led the wearable market in Q1, Xiaomi at 2nd spot: IDC

Apple has maintained its lead in the wearable market. With a market share of 29.3% and 21.2 million units shipped, Apple emerged as the top wearables company in the first quarter of 2020, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker.

Global shipments of wearable devices increased by 29.7% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2020. The period saw shipments of 72.6 million units, added the report. IDC, however, pointed out that the growth was “disproportionately spread across the various form factors.”

The research agency also includes fitness bands and wireless earbuds as wearables. IDC noted that the wristband segment registered a growth of 16.2% in the first quarter. The hearables space surged by 68.3% and accounted for over 50% of the total market.

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"The hearables category was seemingly resilient to the market-suppressing forces caused by COVID-19," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. "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."

The IDC researchers also stressed that the Covid-19 hurt the supply of smart and basic watches. Some brands such as Huawei, Garmin, and Huami managed to weather the impact during the quarter.

"The downward pressure on watches shifts the onus to the latter half of 2020," said Ramon T. Llamas, research director for IDC's Wearables Team. "This gives companies the time to refine their products and messaging, and to align those with customer needs. Given the hyper-focus on overall health and fitness in today's climate, vendors would do well to highlight those capabilities, and provide guidance on how to live healthier lives."

That said, Xiaomi became the second top wearables company in the first quarter as it shipped 7.3 million wristbands and watches. Samsung grabbed the third spot. Huawei and Fitbit took the fourth and fifth spots respectively.