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Apple still leads the wearable market, but Samsung and Huawei are taking off

It is a fact: it is very unlikely that anyone will take off the Apple crown in the device market wearable. As we mentioned a few months ago, Apple grabbed the market – with products like Apple Watch, the AirPods and the headphones Beats – in a way that is difficult to overcome. It is not a case of sleeping on the spot and thinking that everything is fine, however.

IDC on wearables market, Q1 2019

The latest research from International Data Corporation (IDC) about the segment was released this week and, while it shows that Apple held its lead tooth and nail (and has even achieved good growth in recent months), the company’s radar should be aimed at two who are climbing the mountains of wearable devices with jet packs: the Samsung and the Huawei.

According to the survey, referring to global sales in the first quarter 2019, the wearable market sails in full swing: the segment as a whole dispatched 49.6 million of devices over the period – an increase of 55% over last year.

Apple, as said, remained in the lead with 12.8 million of devices sold – representing a jump of 49.5% in the year-on-year comparison and enough for the company to dominate more than a quarter (25.8%, more precisely) of the segment. Xiaomi followed shortly thereafter, with even greater growth (68.2% over the previous year) and 6.6 million dispatched wearables.

The most worrying companies follow: Huawei (third place) and Samsung (fourth place) saw growth of 282% and 152%, respectively, in the annual comparison, with 5 and 4.3 million devices shipped in the period. If companies continue on such a strong upward trajectory, Apple could see its leadership threatened soon – especially by Samsung, as Huawei has now entered an inglorious fight with the US government that could seriously shake its activities in the coming months.

IDC also released a survey referring exclusively to wrist wearables. In this one, Apple no longer has the leadership, lost to Xiaomi – and here, again, we see Huawei showing meteoric growth compared to the first quarter of 2018:

IDC on wearables market, Q1 2019

The research firm said Apple’s strategy to increase the average ticket for its products – especially the Apple Watch – has been successful in the company’s long-term plans: from $ 426 in the first quarter of 2018, the average amount paid by each watch reached $ 455 in the same period in 2019. IDC notes that, apparently, the same strategy is now being applied to AirPods with the launch of the second generation of the headphones.

Will the plan continue to bear fruit in the future? We’ll see.

via iClarified