According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global wearables shipments reached 22 million units in the second quarter of 2017. China-based Xiaomi captured 17 percent marketshare and became the world’s largest wearables vendor for the first time ever, overtaking Fitbit and Apple.
“Global wearables shipments reached 21.6 million units in the second quarter (Q2) 2017, rising 8% annually from 20.0 million in Q2 2016,” says Steven Waltzer, industry analyst at Strategy Analytics. “Strong demand for low-cost fitness bands in China and premium smartwatches across the United States drove the uptick.”
Apple shipped 2.8 million wearables worldwide in Q2 2017, growing 56% annually from 1.8 million in Q2 2016. For now the company has lost its wearables leadership to Xiaomi, due to a lack of presence in the sizeable fitness band subcategory. However, the upcoming Watch Series 3 launch with enhanced health tracking could prove to be a popular smartwatch model and enable Apple to reclaim the top wearables spot later this year.
Xiaomi shipped 3.7 million wearables worldwide in Q2 2017, rising 23% annually from three million units in Q2 2016. Xiaomi captured 17% global marketshare andbecame the world’s largest wearables vendor.
However, if you exclude fitness band sales, the Apple Watch dominates the smartwatch/wearables market. In the fourth quarter of 2016. Apple Watch drove growth and dominated with 63% global smartwatch marketshare, according to Strategy Analytics.
What’s more, Apple set a new quarterly shipment record in in the fourth quarter of 2016, contributing to total smartwatch shipments exceeding nine million units, according to Canalys. This global market figure was largely driven by Apple’s six million shipments, representing year-on-year growth of 12%, notes the research group.
