Wearable device shipments exceeded 400 million in 2020

IDC, a market research firm, announced that the number of wearable devices shipped worldwide was 153.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2020, and reached 447 million units, an increase of 28.4% year-on-year in 2020 as a whole. IDC sees the global corona 19 epidemic as being affected.

IDC said that the waveable market was booming as Corona 19 recognized the importance of health and physical fitness to many consumers. Fitness programs that can be performed in the home are becoming important content for wearable devices provided by various companies, and skin temperature and electrocardiogram It is pointed out that as sensors such as tests and heart rate tracking are advanced, users and medical personnel can further track diseases.

According to IDC, shipments of wristband-type wearable devices were 11.5% of the total, down 17.8% from the previous quarter. It is believed that the 2020 semiconductor shortage will have a significant impact. Meanwhile, the most popular wearable devices are devices represented by wireless earphones such as AirPods and Galaxy Buzz. These device shipments account for 64.2% of the total, accounting for more than 2.5 times the share of 24.1% of watch-type devices including Apple Watch.

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Apple, which introduced the AirPods series or Apple Watch, is leading the market with 36.2% of its shipments. The Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Series 3 launched in 2020 showed strong performance, and Apple Watch Series shipments increased 45.6% QoQ. In addition, shipments of the AirPods series also surged, but the growth rate slowed slightly.

Xiaomi, which took the second place in the market share, achieved a 5% growth compared to the same period last year. However, Xiaomi’s shipments of US bands, which are wristband wearable devices, declined 18.3% from the same period last year due to a shortage of semiconductors. On the other hand, the Airdots series grew 55.5% year-on-year thanks to strong performance.

Samsung Electronics, the third largest market share, is also developing a low-cost wristband device brand and was able to compete sufficiently with Chinese companies. However, the number of wristband-type devices shipped was relatively small, with 1.3 million units. In addition, watch-type devices such as the Galaxy Watch also declined in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Huawei, faced with U.S. government sanctions in 2020, ranked fourth in the market share. Sales volume in China increased by 9.4%, but markets that had been showing strong performance in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe declined. However, it is expected that the linkage of its own smartwatch will increase further with Harmony OS, which is an OS for smartphones developed by Huawei.

Indian startup BoAt is a fast-growing electronics manufacturer in India. It is only operating in the Indian market, and its products are limited to wireless earphones, but nevertheless, it shipped 5.4 million units, ranking 5th in the global market. However, IDC predicted that it would be difficult for boats to expand their business globally in the future, as the top four companies dominate the market outside of India. Related information can be found here.