Shipments of Wearables Grown by 35% in Q1 2018, Apple and Xiaomi Lead the Race
Published : Thursday, 24 May, 2018
In Q1 2018, a substantial increase in wearable shipments has been registered. The most popular are fitness wearables, with smartwatches being at the forefront, accounting for about 80% of the total revenue and 43% of shipped units. Two major suppliers are in pole position: Apple with the Q1 result leveled at 3.8 million Apple Watches and Xiaomi shipping 3.7 million. The other three manufacturers of wearables to wrap up our top 5 chart are Fitbit, Garmin, and Huawei. Overall, in comparison with Q1 2017, wearables shipment figures grew by 35% up to 20.5 million items. According to Jason Low, Senior Analyst at Canalys research company, Apple Watch Series 3 growth can be primarily attributed to the additional revenue obtained by operators thanks to LTE-enabled technology, and the list of operators selling cellular- enabled Apple Watch is increasing from month to month. Apple Watch accounts for 59% of the whole market of LTE watches.
In the sector of smartwatches, Garmin is on the second place after Apple, having shipped one million devices in the last quarter. Vincent Thielke, another Canalys Research Analyst, says the company is adapting its GPS expertise to suit the needs of fitness enthusiasts. Among its undeniable achievements the analyst cites adding Garmin Pay to its popular Forerunner and Vivoactive series, as well as introducing an onboard
music storage on the Forerunner 645 model.
Fitbit with its new Versa model came up with dedicated female health tracking, Thielke adds. The company currently collaborates with Google on its Cloud Healthcare API, allow for Fitbit to further expand its expertise in the field of healthcare. However, the analyst a considerable sales growth is by no means guaranteed, the analyst admits.
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