The global wearables market dropped 3 percent during the first quarter of 2022 to 105.3 million units, IDC report said.
The first-ever decline in wearables market is largely attributable to cooling demand as consumers begin to spend more in categories outside of wearables.
Hearables, the largest category by share, declined 0.6 percent. Hearables experienced one of the biggest booms in the industry as work-from-home and learn-from-home activity led to a sharp increase in demand that has now come down from the pandemic-driven high.
Wristbands, the pioneers of the wearables category, declined 40.5 percent as supply shortages and weaker demand combined to hamper growth.
Watches grew 9.1 percent during the period and grabbed 28 percent share of the overall market.
“Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of their health and with more pricing options, there seems to be a watch available for everyone,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. “Competition is on the rise as smaller brands ramp up their basic health and fitness tracking watches at the low end, and as Google along with Samsung and other Wear OS partners finally become more competitive with Apple at the high end of the spectrum.”
“Cooling demand will force companies to further differentiate themselves,” said Ramon T. Llamas, research director, Mobile Devices and AR/VR at IDC. “Companies will have to convince customers to upgrade with best-in-class experiences knowing that there are plenty of alternatives available.”
Apple managed to grow 6.6 percent during the quarter thanks to the performance of Apple Watches with the Apple Watch SE showing surprising resilience (over 2 million shipped) for a device that is more than one and half years old. Shipments of AirPods were flat during the quarter as the company faced more competition from low-cost products.
Samsung ranked second though its unit shipments dropped nearly 10 percent compared to last year. Samsung has relied on strong smartphone sales to bundle wearables (especially hearables) in many markets. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 series continues to remain popular as the company’s watch shipments grew 32.7 percent during the quarter.
Xiaomi’s decline was solely due to the weakness in the wristband category. Xiaomi made progress with watches and hearables and employs the same low cost, high value strategy.
Huawei retained the fourth position though shipments declined by 10.8 percent. Huawei is focused on the local Chinese market although its presence in Europe has grown over time.
Imagine Marketing again held its position within the top 5 due to its large presence in India though they may be experiencing early signs of saturation as growth within hearables declined 3.8 percent during the quarter. As a result, the company has been growing its presence in the watch category even though overall shipments remain well below 1 million units.
