Last year, the global wearable device delivery reached 336.5 million units, an increase of 89% from the 178 million units in 2018, according to a report released by IDC.
The report states that Samsung Electronics was the third-largest wearable device supplier last year as global demand for wearables soared. The company delivered a total of 30.9 million wearable devices last year, more than double the year-on-year.
In 2019, the South Korean technology giant has a 9.2% share of the global wearable device market, an increase of 2.3 percentage points year-on-year.
Apple sold 106.5 million wearable devices last year, consolidating its 31.7% market share, and ranking first in the market.
It is worth mentioning that Apple has so far mainly sold smart watch products and has not launched sports bracelets with simpler functions and lower prices.
As a comparison, in 2018, Apple gained 27% of the global wearable device market share, and delivered a total of 48 million wearable devices that year.
According to IDC data, China's Xiaomi ranked second with 41.7 million wearables shipments. However, its market share dropped from 13.1% in 2018 to 12.4% last year.
"As companies such as Apple and Samsung Electronics gain more market share, the wearables market is rapidly becoming top-heavy," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager of IDC Mobile Device Tracking.
"Although these giants have put pressure on the rest of the market, some smaller brands still have introduced a lot of innovation and differentiation, and the long-tail effect of this market will continue to exist in the foreseeable future."
According to IDC, "audible" wearables (referred to as wearables that are hung on or in the ears) have led the rapid growth of the wearables industry last year.
Last year, shipments of audible wearable products such as headphones reached 170.5 million, an increase of 250.5% from 48.6 million in 2018. They account for more than half of total wearable shipments in 2019.
Among overall wearable products, smart watches ranked second, with 92.4 million units sold last year, a year-on-year increase of 22.7%. Sports bracelets ranked third with 69.4 million units shipped.
It should be pointed out that in the reports of other technology market research companies, wearable devices generally refer to smart watches and sports bracelets, and do not include in-ear headphones, pull-on headphones and other products. They are more commonly considered as consumer electronics peripherals accessories products.
Among audible wearable products, Bluetooth headsets are already an ancient product, but after Apple entered the market, it injected fresh blood into this market through refreshing design and functional innovation.
Some reports show that Apple has already accounted for about half of the Bluetooth headset market share. Last year, Apple also pursued its success by launching a new, more powerful and more expensive Bluetooth headset that provided active noise reduction.
In addition, in the wearable device market, several sports bracelet manufacturers have already withdrawn from the market or undergo a major transformation.
Fitbit, the world's No. 1 sports bracelet manufacturer, has been acquired by Google, and the transaction is currently undergoing review by regulatory authorities regarding user privacy protection.
Fitbit mainly produced sports bracelets in the past, but then began to enter the smart watch market.
IDC's statistical category for wearable devices is in line with the small hardware section of Apple's financial report.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Apple ’s small hardware including smart watches and Bluetooth headsets earned $ 10 billion in revenue, a substantial increase of one-third from the same period last year.
The revenue of this sector has exceeded the revenue of Apple notebooks and tablets, and its internal status has been significantly upgraded.
