Wearables Shipments Jump 55% in Q1, Led by Watches, Trackers, Ear Pods, Says IDC
Wearables shipments grew 55 percent year on year in Q1, led by wrist-worn devices with 63.2 percent market share, while ear-worn devices (34.6 percent share) such as AirPods experienced the fastest growth, IDC reported Thursday. The elimination of headphone jacks…
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and increased use of voice assistants are driving ear-worn wearables, said analyst Jitesh Ubrani. The category will become increasingly important as an “on-ramp” to wearables ecosystems that complement a smartphone “but also offer the ability to leave the phone behind when necessary,” Ubrani said. Wristwear, including watches and fitness bands, grew 32 percent, with a focus on health and fitness, IDC said. Apple continues to lead the category at 25.8 percent share with its Watch, AirPods and select Beats headphones, said the researcher, with the Watch seeing average selling price (ASP) growing to $455 from $426. Xiaomi held second position and Huawei third, at 13.3 and 10 percent, with Samsung shipping 4.3 million units, up 152 percent for 8.7 percent share, driven by Galaxy S10 smartphone bundling and low-priced JBL headphones. Fitbit rounded out the top five with 5.9 percent share, at 2.9 million shipments. The recent launch of Fitbit's Versa Lite and Inspire series devices have helped the company reach new users and encouraged upgrades at the expense of a lower ASP, said the researcher.