Samsung's global wearables shipments grew by 71% for the first quarter of 2020

The latest IDC report on the wearables market (for the first quarter of 2020 (1Q2020)) shows that its watch sector declined. However, this shortfall was addressed by gains made by the audio and band categories. Apple remained the #1 brand in terms of shipments, although Samsung posted the greatest year-on-year (YoY) growth.

The market analysis group IDC has reported that the wearables market grew by 29.7% YoY in 1Q2020. It may have done even better, had not its watch (both basic and smart) sector declined by 7.1% compared to 1Q2019. The new study concluded that this was due not particularly to a lack of demand for these products as to supply issues linked to the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

However, the other main sectors of this market - those for hearables (as in earphones, headphones and so on) and band-style wrist-worn devices - reportedly did markedly well in this quarter. This was found to be due to the launch of new products such as the Charge 4 series and the Mi Band 3i.

Accordingly, the top 5 brands in the 1Q2020 wearables market were Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung, Huawei, and Fitbit (in that order). Of these, Samsung exhibited the greatest YoY growth, although it did post a decline of 7.2% in the watch sector.

Source(s)

IDC