Huawei leads global wearables market, Apple is only third

According to a new report from IDC China, Huawei led the global wearables market in the first quarter of this year (January to March), with 10 million shipments, taking a 21.9% market share. This represents 42.4% growth compared to the year-ago quarter, when it shipped 7 million units and had 17% of the market.

Next up is Xiaomi with 8.7 million shipments and 19% of the pie. Xiaomi recorded the biggest year-on-year growth at 42.6%, as last year it had 6.1 million shipments and a 14.7% market share.

Apple is only in third with 7 million shipments and a 15.5% market share. It grew 37.2% from its Q1 2024 performance of 5.1 million shipments and 12.5% market share.

Samsung is in fourth with 3.4 million shipments and 7.5% of the pie, and its sales have declined by 5.7% compared to the year-ago quarter when it managed 3.6 million shipments for an 8.8% market share.

Rounding up the top five is Garmin with 2.1 million shipments and 4.7% market share, growing 29.5% year-on-year from 1.6 million shipments and 4% market share.

The market overall shipped 45.6 million units in Q1 this year, of which 34.81 million units were smartwatches and 10.76 million were smart bands. The market overall is up by 10.5% from 41.2 million in Q1 2024.

Of those 45.6 million units, 17.62 million represent the Chinese market alone, which grew 37.6% year-on-year. China's smartwatch market shipped 11.4 million units, up 25.3% year-on-year, and its smart band market managed 6.21 million units shipped with a growth of 67.9%.

All of this growth in China is driven by the national subsidy scheme by the Chinese government, and this will continue to promote growth in the country's wristwear market, with IDC predicting that full-year 2025 numbers will be 36.9% higher than in 2024.

Source (in Chinese)