Fitbit and Apple lead 2Q2015 wearable market
2Q2015 wearables shipment numbers are out. Apple and Xiaomi straight away jumped into #2 and #3 spots while Fitbit maintained the top spot and this may not be long. The good news for Apple fans is that Apple is only 0.8 million units off of Fitbit’s 4.4 million unit figure. When compared to the shipments in 2Q2014, the wearable market grew 223.4%, with 18.1 million shipments.
“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.”
While Fitbit, Apple and Xiaomi occupied top three positions, Garmin and Samsung rounded off the top 5 and Samsung is the only vendor to register negative growth, mainly due to lack of good models.
