Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the global smartphone market, but competition is increasing

Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the global smartphone market, but competition is increasing.

According to Counterpoint Research, the global smartwatch market has been growing rapidly for multiple years now driven by the explosion of basic smartwatches priced mostly under US$100 and running proprietary or real-time operating system (RTOS)-type operating systems with basic functionality and applications. On the other hand, advanced smartwatches (those with High-Level Operating System or HLOS) have been growing steadily mostly driven by Apple and Samsung until now.

However, according to Counterpoint’s atest global smartwatch tracker and forecast by region, brand and OS, the global HLOS smartwatch market is estimated to grow 15% annually in 2024 in terms of volume, after a flattish growth in 2023. The research group says a major part of this growth will come from non-Apple smartphone users adopting either a Google Wear OS-based smartwatch if outside China or a Huawei HarmonyOS-based smartwatch if in China.

Counterpoint says that, for example, in the advanced smartwatch segment, we estimate the Google Wear OS share outside China will climb to 27% in 2024. The growth will be primarily driven by the availability of more advanced smartwatches powered by Wear OS, like the latest adoption by Google Pixel and OnePlus Watch 2, along with the refreshed Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series, according to the research group.

In terms of smartwatch chipsets, Apple and Samsung currently hold two-thirds of the advanced smartwatch market. However, Counterpoint says that Hengxuan and Qualcomm are expected to witness double-digit growth in 2024.