Apple has reportedly ceded the lead in the global wrist wearable devices market to China's Huawei.
According to global market research firm IDC on the 19th, the worldwide cumulative shipments of wrist-worn wearable devices for the first three quarters of this year reached 139 million units, down about 1% (1.5 million units) compared to the same period last year. IDC noted that this was "mainly due to market saturation in the United States and India." However, shipments in the Chinese market increased by 20.1% year-on-year to 45.8 million units, driving global growth.
By product type, smartwatch shipments for the first three quarters of this year totaled 112.2 million units, down 3.8% compared to the same period last year, while smart band shipments increased by 12.7% to 26.8 million units.
The growth in the Chinese market also influenced brand rankings. Huawei secured the top spot with cumulative shipments of 23.6 million units and a market share of 16.9% for the first three quarters. This represents an increase of 7.3 million units compared to the same period last year and a rise of 5.3 percentage points in market share, surpassing Apple. IDC reported that Huawei has "stably grown in the Asia-Pacific, South America, and Middle East-Africa markets based on the popularity of the new Watch GT5, GT5 Pro, and WATCH D2 products launched in the third quarter."
Apple, which was "the unassailable number one," has dropped to second place. Its cumulative shipments for the first three quarters were 22.5 million units, down by 3.3 million units year-on-year, with a market share of 16.2%, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points during the same period. Individually in the third quarter, Apple Watch Series 10 had the highest shipments due to its launch effect, but on an annual cumulative basis, Apple fell behind Huawei.