Apple Inc., according to a report from market research firm IDC, shipped 11.6 million Apple Watches in 2015. This makes Apple the third largest smartwatch vendor in the Top Five Wearables manufacturers list released by IDC. Apple holds 14.9 percent of the market share in the sector that has nearly led to the demise of traditional watch market.
While Apple has to be content with a third place, Fitbit still rules the roost at the number one spot with 21 million shipments last year. In terms of market share, Fitbit accounts for 26.9 percent of the market share. Compared to 2014 there has been an 11 percent drop in Fitbit’s percentage share in the market. In 2014, Fitbit held a 37.9 percent share in the market with 10.9 million shipments. While the number of devices shipped has significantly gone up, its market share has reduced owing to completive products from other players.
Xiaomi on the other hand has just managed to nudge past Apple with 12 million shipments. The Chinese electronics major, accounts for 15.4 percent of the market share. In 2014, Xiaomi held only 4.0 percent share in the market with 1.1 million shipments.
The Swiss based wearables manufacturer, Garmin takes the fourth spot in the list with 3.3 million shipments in the year 2015. This accounts for its 4.2 percent share in the market. In 2014, Garmin held a 7.0 percent share in the market with 2 million products shipped.
The top five list is rounded off by Samsung with 3.1 million shipments accounting for 4.0 percent share in the market. Even Samsung has witnessed a sharp fall in its market share, while the number of products shipped is slightly more in 2014 than last year. With 2.7 million shipments Samsung held a market share of 9.2 percent. The sharp fall in the market share of Fitbit, Garmin and Samsung might be attributed to the Apple’s foray into the market nine months ago. Even the popularity of Xiaomi wearable devices combined with Apple’s entry has significantly impacted the rest of the competitors.
The wearable devices such as fitness trackers and smartwatches, have finally entered into the mainstream according to IDC. The market overall, saw a 172 percent growth in the year 2015, with 78.1 million devices shipped.
It shows that wearables are not just for the technophiles and early adopters; wearables can exist and are welcome in the mass market,
writes Ramon Llamas, a research manager for IDC’s wearables team.
And since wearables have yet to fully penetrate the mass market, there is still plenty of room for growth in multiple vectors: new vendors, form factors, applications, and use cases,
stated IDC.
