Shipments of wrist-worn wearables — inclusive of smartwatches, basic watches, and wrist bands — reached 34.2 million units, up 28.8% year over year during the second quarter of 2019 (2Q19), according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker.
The top five companies – Xiaomi, Apple, Huawei, Fitbit, and Samsung – continued to push forward with new products and promotional campaigns during the quarter, collectively capturing 65.7% of the market, an almost 12-point gain from last year, adds the research group.
Apple ranked second in terms of units although the company outpaces all others in terms of dollar value as the average selling price (ASP) for an Apple Watch was $448 during the quarter. The company also recently announced the Series 5, which should help the company maintain its leading position in the smartwatch market. IDC anticipates shipments of the Apple Watch to grow by 10.8% by the end of 2019 and capture 38.9% of all smartwatches shipped during the year.
“Health is now at the forefront for these devices since companies have started providing actionable insights and prescriptive measures for end users,” says Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. “Beyond health, mobile payment is also starting to become a mainstay as roughly two out of five wrist-worn wearables now include NFC, and many more simply use QR codes to complete transactions.”
