Apple’s smartwatch and earphones were a key driver behind the fact that shipments of wearable devices nearly doubled year-on-year last quarter.
Research firm IDC put the stats out: it claims that global shipments of wearables grew by 94.6% to 84.5m units in the third quarter of 2019 – a new quarterly record. IDC also noted that ‘hearables’ (ugh!) accounted for almost half the market, thanks to wireless headphones and earphones.
According to the company Apple was the biggest shipper of wearable devices last quarter, with 29.5m Apple Watches, AirPods and Beats headphones. It was followed by Xiaomi (12.4m units), Samsung (8.3m), Huawei (7.1m) and Fitbit (3.5m). ‘Earwear’ (again, ugh!) accounted for 40.7m units of the total, followed by wristbands (19.2m – this being fitness trackers) and smartwatches (17.6m).
“The rise of smart assistants in the home and on the phone has led to an increased demand for wearables that have the ability to connect with these assistants,” said IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani. “With multiple form factors and the inclusion of smart assistants, the wearables market is well on its way to becoming a mass market device category.”
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