Apple rules global wearable market in Q4 2018, Xiaomi bags second spot: Report

Smartwatche sales globally are on a rise with Apple continuing to rule the wearables market having shipped 10.4 million devices of the total 16.2 million shipments in Q4 2018. Currently, Apple offers the Apple Watch Series 3 , Apple Watch Series 4 , Apple Watch Nike+ , and Apple Watch Hermès in the market. As per the recent International Data Corporation(IDC) report, the global wearables market has been reported to grow 31.4 percent during the fourth quarter of 2018, providing a total of 59.3 million units. The report gives credit for the growth in the market to the launching of the new wearables during “the months leading up to the holiday season” and also due to the bundling up of the wearables with various smartphone launches by leading brands. [caption id=“attachment_6052511” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] Apple Watch Series 4. Image: tech2/Omkar Patne[/caption] “Wrist bands accounted for 30 percent of the market as recent launches from Xiaomi, Huawei, and Fitbit continued to drive the category forward. Ear-worn devices grew 66.4 percent and captured 21.9 percent of the market.” The second position has been captured by **Xiaomi** with 12.6 percent. Xiaomi has kept a stronghold in China which is its home market. Xiaomi’s **Mi Band 3** by itself accounts for over 30 percent of all wrist bands shipped during the quarter. Huawei steals the third spot with a 9.6 percent market share. The growth is being attributed to the sale of the wearables along with Huawei and Honor phones. The launches of Watch GT, FreeBuds 2 Pro, and a few others also helped the company gain traction. [caption id=“attachment_5548581” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Mi Band 3. Image: Tech2[/caption] Fitbit acquired the fourth spot with a 9.4 percent market share followed by Samsung with a 6.8 percent share. Fitbit is said to finally see growth due to the sales of **Charge 3** during the holiday season and also adding promotional offers on other popular devices such as the Versa. As for Samsung, similar to Huawei and Xiaomi, it too bundled many of its wearables with smartphones. The newly launched Galaxy Watch and older models such as Gear S3 managed to capture a notable share of Samsung’s overall shipments.