IDC: Hearables market sees growth, but smartwatch sales decline in Q1 2020

The first quarter of 2020 had the wearables market see a significant growth despite the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. According to an IDC report, the hearables market has seen impressive growth during this time of crisis, while smartwatches and fitness trackers have seen a decline in sales.

The hearables category includes all the headphones, earphones earbuds, and other audio related products in the market. With the COVID-19, work from home has become the new norm and professional environment for many across the globe. Thus, the demand for hearables and other personal audio devices have also risen because of this. For example, Apple has seen a massive growth of 59.9 percent year on year, with shipment numbers rising to 21.2 million units over 2019’s 13.3 million units.

Xiaomi comes in second with a global market share of 10.1 million units in this quarter. This also marked an impressive growth of 56.4 percent from 2019. Samsung and Huawei followed close behind in third and fourth positions with 8.6 percent and 8.1 percent respectively. Notably, the South Korean tech giant’s hearables department accounted for nearly 74 percent of its wearables shipments.

During Q1 2020, the known wearables and fitness tracker maker, Fitbit, saw a sizeable decline. Since manufacturing plants and supply chains were disrupted earlier this year in China, the company had faced many issues during its operations. This caused the Fitbit to lose 35.7 percent year on year, with its shipments falling from 72.6 million units to 56 million units.

(Source)

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