Fitbit leads wearables market followed by Xiaomi and Apple: IDC

Wearables have slowly creeped up into our daily lives and according to research firm IDC, things are changing in the wearables market. According to the data, the second quarter of 2016 has seen an overall increase in the wearables market however smart wearables (those that support third-party apps) saw a decline. Shipments of wearable devices reached 22.5 million in the Q2 2016, which is a 26.1 percent increase year-over-year. According to the firm, the reason for this increase has been the introduction of new use cases for these devices including mobile payments, communication capabilities and so on. Basic wearables (the ones that do not support third-party applications, like most basic fitness trackers) increased 48.8 percent year-over-year, while shipments of smart wearables (like the Apple Watch and other Android Wear devices) declined 27.2 percent. IDC believes that one of the main issues with smart wearables is a lack of clear purpose, while basic wearables are often marketed with a clear idea of functionality. The report also concluded that Apple was the only vendor to post a year-over-year decrease in shipment numbers. This was probably because the launch of its second generation Apple Watch saw delays. Currently, Fitbit dominates the wearables market with a 25.4 percent share followed by Xiaomi with 14 percent due to its strong presence in China. Apple has seen a major drop as it only has a 7 percent share, down from 20.3 percent this time last year.

Apple is expected to launch the new Apple Watch 2 on 7 September along with the new iPhones. The new hardware along with the new watchOS 3 could bring a significant change to the declining numbers.