Fitbit grabs the top position followed by Xiaomi and Apple in the wearable segment, as shipments for wearables reached 33.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2016 (4Q16) which is about 16.9% year-over-year growth, according to the latest IDC report.
Starting with Fitbit, the company managed to retain its dominance in the wearable market despite facing one of its largest declines ever. The market share fell from 29 per cent in Q4 2015 to just 19.2 per cent, registering a 22.7 per cent year-over-year decline. The main reason for this decline can be attributed to the company’s decision of focusing the US market heavily, which is on a verge of saturation.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi has registered a steep rise in the market share, as it now captures 15.2 per cent of market share as opposed to 9.1 per cent of last year in the same quarter. The company has registered year-over-year growth of 96.2 per cent majorly because of the low-cost wearables it offers, but still, according to IDC, it lacks the expertise and brand recognition to expand beyond its native borders in China.
Apple on the other hand, with its Series 1 and Series 2 watches has proved to be a success for the company as it was the company’s best quarter ever in the wearables market. The lower entry price point and the inclusion of GPS on the Series 2 along with a completely revamped user interface have helped the company grow its presence. The company holds a market share of 13.6 per cent and has gained a y-o-y growth of 13 per cent.
Other than this, Garmin and Samsung were able to capture 6.2 per cent and 5.6 per cent of market share in the wearable segment. Samsung remains the only major company offering cellular-enabled wearables. LTE connectivity has been a key differentiator for Samsung’s watches as it has helped decouple them from smartphones, but more importantly, it has opened up a new channel (telcos) to help promote the Samsung watches, the report added.