Apple Kept Q3 Wearables Lead Despite 35% Drop in Watch Shipments
Wearables shipments grew about 10% in Q3 to 138.4 million, led by hearables with 64.7% share of shipments, reported IDC Monday. Wrist-worn wearables had 34.7% of shipments. Apple continued to lead the overall wearables category, with 53% of dollar value,…
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despite a 35.3% plunge in Apple Watch shipments during the quarter. AirPods and Beats true wireless earphones helped the company “cement its leadership” in wearables, though they were challenged by strong competition in the earphone and watch segments. "Demand has been slowly shifting away from wristbands towards watches as consumers increasingly want a more capable device and as the gap in pricing narrows," said analyst Jitesh Ubrani. The number of watches selling for under $100 is now equal to wristbands, Ubrani said. Growth from Indian and Chinese brands has been leading the low-end watch space; Apple, Huawei and Samsung maintain a hold at the high-end, he said. Samsung's recently launched Galaxy Watch 4 Series, on the Wear OS platform vs. Tizen, was “well received and is a significant step forward” for the watchmaker, said IDC. Samsung is trying to grow its wearables business by bundling hearables, watches and bands with smartphones; it’s also attempting to “steal wallet share from fashion spending with the launch of bespoke edition watches,” Ubrani said.