As expected, the launch of the Apple Watch in April is quickly being felt across the wearables market. In its latest Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, IDC reports that, Apple is appearing on its Top Five Wearables Vendors list in second place on its debut. First place is well within its reach as well as it trailed current market leader Fitbit and its shipments of 4.4 million devices by only 0.8 million units.
“Anytime Apple enters a new market, not only does it draw attention to itself, but to the market as a whole,” noted Ramon Llamas, Research Manager for IDC’s Wearables team. “Its participation benefits multiple players and platforms within the wearables ecosystem, and ultimately drives total volumes higher. Apple also forces other vendors – especially those that have been part of this market for multiple quarters – to re-evaluate their products and experiences. Fairly or not, Apple will become the stick against which other wearables are measured, and competing vendors need to stay current or ahead of Apple. Now that Apple is officially a part of the wearables market, everyone will be watching to see what other wearable devices it decides to launch, such as smart glasses or hearables.”
IDC reports that Apple shipped 3.6 million Apple Watches between April and June. That was enough to grab 19.9% of the global wearables market for the quarer. Fitbit, the current leader, holds a 24.3% share of the market, down from 30.4 the same quarter a year ago.
XIaomi was pushed down from second to third place with 3.1 million units shipped but still saw shipment gains over the previous quarter. Garmin and Samsung, both with shipments below the 1 million mark, held down fourth and fifth places with Jawbone dropping out of the top five. Of manufacturers around in Q2 2014, Samsung was the only one to see shipments decline. Whether the upcoming Gear S2 will help it reverse this trend remains to be seen.
Q2 2015 wearables shipments jumped nearly 7 million from Q1 to hit 18.1 million. Year-over-year growth came in at 223.2%. Look for Apple to extend its dominance in coming quarters with competitors set to benefit from a halo effect even as they find themselves hard-pressed to compete directly against Apple.
Source : IDC