Apple continues its domination of the wearables industry as 2019 comes to a close. New from IDC for Q3 2019 indicates that global shipments of wearable devices hit 84.5 million units during the quarter, with Apple taking the top spot by a large margin.
According to IDC data, Apple’s wearables shipments hit 29.5 million units during Q3 2019, including Apple Watch, AirPods, and Beats headphones. That’s up nearly 200% compared to estimated shipments of 10 million units during the same quarter last year. That also means Apple has 35% marketshare in the wearables industry.
In addition to the continued success of AirPods, IDC also notes that the low-cost Apple Watch Series 3 continues to be a popular option for shoppers:
Apple’s lead in the wearables industry is commanding, IDC data suggests. Xiaomi comes in second place with 12.4 million shipments, followed by Samsung at 8.3 million units. Huawei and Fitbit round out the top 5 with shipments of 7.1 million and 3.5 million units, respectively.
On an industry-wide basis, IDC says “hearables” are becoming the top wearables category. This includes truly wireless earbuds such as AirPods. Wristbands also continue to lead over smartwatches, despite the continued success of Apple Watch. Here is the full breakdown:
Apple itself doesn’t break out unit sales for any of its wearable products, including Apple Watch, AirPods, or Beats. Revenue from its Wearables, Home, and Accessories category continues to grow, hitting $6.5 billion last quarter. Reports have also suggested that AirPods Pro are also more popular than expected, which explains supply constraints at many retailers this holiday season.
You can read the full IDC report here.
