Apple Watch Big on Demand in the World, Samsung & Huawei Follow

The wearable market is booming, even if you can’t see people buying them across the world.

You might think people have stopped buying smartwatch/wearable devices but the reality is much different from that. No surprises here to see Apple Watch leading the segment, which saw global smartwatch shipments grow at 48 percent year-on-year (YoY) in the first quarter of 2019, Counterpoint Research said on Friday.

That’s not all, the wearable segment itself revolves around brands like Apple, Samsung, Fitbit and Huawei the new and surprising entrant in this list.

Overall, the top nine brands contribute to 75 percent of the market shipment and Samsung, Fitbit and Huawei grew exponentially in the quarter, said Counterpoint's "Global Smartwatch Tracker".

Apple with 35.8 percent led the segment, followed by Samsung at 11.1 percent and a new Chinese brand Imoo at third spot with 9.2 percent market share by shipments.

"Apple Watch shipments grew a solid 49 percent YoY despite the weak demand for its iPhones," said Counterpoint Research Analyst Satyajit Sinha.

Apple continues to focus on health-related features like ECG and fall detection in the Apple Watch Series 4 and people have warmed up to options like these, even if they have to spend extra.

"The ECG capability in the Apple Watch is the most desirable feature," experts added.

Apple has now received approval on its ECG features from healthcare authorities of Hong Kong and 19 other countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. But it is unlikely to get one in India, where the country is still evaluating the use of the wearable device and giving them approval as per medical regulations.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Huawei also saw its market share jump to 3 percent in Q1 2019 due to good traction for its latest Huawei Watch GT. The company’s sub-brand Honor seems to be focusing on fitness bands that feature in the affordable segment.

Samsung grew exponentially at 127 percent (YoY) as the Korean brand's market share jumped to 11 percent in Q1 2019. This has been possible with the new Galaxy watch that offered a new design and more importantly, improved battery life.

Fitbit has been a regular entry in the wearable list, and continues to do well, without needing to over-experiment with its products.

(With IANS inputs)