Apple started 2021 the same way it ended 2020: as the clear leader in the worldwide wearables market, according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker. Appetite for its smartwatches remained strong with the less expensive SE and Series 3 gaining further traction in the market while its earwear – inclusive of AirPods and Beats – showed sequential declines after reaching record levels in quarter four of 2020, adds the research group.
The report says that companies shipped a total of 104.6 million wearable devices in quarter one of 2021. This marked a 34.4% increase from the 77.8 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2020 and the first time that first quarter shipments topped 100 million units.
