Xiaomi dominates worldwide wearable band market which recorded a growth of 65% in Q3

In a matter of a decade, smartphones became an essential part of our lives. Thanks to the rapid advancement in technology, we can now say the same about wearable bands, truely wireless earphones, and smartwatches.

According to the latest report by Canalys, the global wearable band market grew by 65% in the third quarter of 2019. During this period, around 45.5 million units of smart fitness bands, activity trackers, and smartwatches were sold worldwide.

America, Asia Pacific (excluding Greater China), EMEA, and Greater China were the four major regions that contributed to this growth.

This time, Xiaomi surprisingly acquired the first position in the worldwide wearable band market by shipping 12.2 million fitness bands. Furthermore, the Chinese-tech giant recorded a remarkable 74% year-on-year growth.

The primary reason behind Xiaomi’s success is its good old strategy of selling feature-rich products at competitive price points.

Apple, however, slipped down to the second position by acquiring around 15% of the market share. The launch of Apple Watch Series 5 helped the trillion-dollar company to enhance the sales in Q3 2019. In fact, the 5th generation Apple Watch contributed to 60% of Apple’s quarterly shipments.

To meet up the demands, Apple has been ramping up the production lately. The company also recorded the highest year-on-year growth since Q2 2017.

Third, on the list is another big Chinese firm – Huawei. Well, this time around, Huawei managed to ship 5.9 million units and the company recorded an astonishing  243% annual growth. Unlike Xiaomi and Apple, Huawei manufactures both fitness trackers and smartwatches.

The recent acquisition of Fitbit by Google proved as a distraction for the company and its the only brand on the top five list that didn’t grow shipments over last year. As you might have guessed, Fitbit acquired the fourth position in the worldwide wearable band market. 

Samsung, with around 6% market share, is the last on the list and is followed by many other small brands that acquire 31% market share. 

The American market was mostly dominated by Apple. As mentioned above, the Apple Watch Series 5 brought many nifty features like an always-on display, improved customization, and many more. So people using the Series 2 and Series 3 watches saw the 5th generation Apple Watch as a worthy upgrade. 

The highly price-sensitive market of Asia-Pacific was mostly ruled by Xioami, Samsung, and Fitbit. Surprisingly, both Android and iOS users contributed to the rapid success of Mi Band 4 in India. 

Cynthia Chen, the Research Analyst at Canalys states:

Most of the Asia Pacific markets recorded triple digit growth while emerging markets in Asia are particularly strong, which is also driven by online promotions during festive seasons.

Xiaomi also recorded excellent growth figures in the European market by selling a record volume of 2.7 million units. Ben Stanton, Senior Analyst at Canalys commented that, 

“Fitbit is under pressure from low-cost competitors. As part of Google’s acquisition, Fitbit will pass on hardware expertise and channel knowledge, but Google must work during the interim to keep Fitbit’s brand identity and market share intact as it works to transition the user base over.”

Lastly, the two Chinese firms i.e. Xioami & Huawei expereinced good regional success in Greater China. In fact,  Huawei outperformed Xioami by around 290% of regional growth.