Growth continued in the global wearables market during the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18) as shipment volume reached 27.9 million units, up 5.5% from the previous year according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker. Apple maintained its position atop the wearables market with “market-beating growth and continued demand for its LTE-enabled Watch,” adds the research group.
“This makes it a welcome addition to many telco channels worldwide. Now that the company has unveiled watchOS 5, it has also begun to chart out potential replacement cycles as the latest version of Apple’s smartwatch platform will be compatible only with Series 1 and later,” says IDC.
China-based Xiaomi held the second position. In third place, Fitbit’s decline continued as the company largely relied on sales of basic wristbands in the past and was not able to maintain pace during the second quarter. Coming in the fourth and fifth places were Huawei and Garmin.
The wearables market experienced similar gains in dollar value, growing 8.3% year-over-year to $4.8 billion in 2Q18 fueled by the continued popularity of smartwatches with their high price tags, according to IDC.
