World gross sales of smartwatches have fallen for the primary time, new figures point out, largely attributable to a pointy decline within the recognition of market chief, Apple.
Market analysis agency Counterpoint says 7% fewer of the gadgets had been shipped in 2024 in comparison with the yr earlier than.
Shipments of Apple Watches fell by 19% in that interval, Counterpoint says.
It blames the droop on an absence of latest options in Apple’s newest gadgets, and the actual fact a rumoured high-end Extremely 3 mannequin by no means materialised.
“The largest driver of the decline was North America, the place the absence of the Extremely 3 and minimal function upgrades within the S10 lineup led shoppers to carry again purchases,” mentioned Counterpoint senior analysis analyst Anshika Jain.
Apple was additionally hit with gross sales and import bans within the US in late 2023 and early 2024 over a disputed patent relating to blood oxygen degree monitoring – which Ms Jain says additionally contributed to decrease gross sales figures within the first half of 2024.
It retained 22% of market share within the closing three months of 2024, down from 25% a yr earlier.
Regardless of the general decline, final yr did see a large rise in gross sales for Chinese language-made smartwatches from manufacturers similar to Xiaomi, Huawei and Imoo.
Gross sales in China additionally grew from 19% of the market to 25% within the yr from the final quarter of 2023.
This was the primary time it recorded extra smartwatch gross sales than India or North America, based on Counterpoint.
“Huawei, Imoo and Xiaomi had been the entrance runners of the China market,” mentioned Ms Jain.
The Chinese language producers additionally appeared to faucet into one other pattern – the rising recognition of smartwatches for youngsters, the one phase of the market to develop in 2024.
Imoo, recognized in China as “Little Genius”, specialises in youngsters’s good watches and noticed a 22% rise in shipments.
“The children’ good watch phase is gaining traction as mother and father are involved for his or her youngsters’s security, they usually need to trace and keep consistently linked with their youngsters,” Counterpoint’s Balbir Singh mentioned.
However Imoo was eclipsed by a 135% rise in shipments from Beijing-based tech firm Xiaomi.
Its Good Band exercise trackers promote for a fraction of the worth of rivals made by Apple and Samsung.
One other giant contributor to the worldwide gross sales drop was India, which fell from 30% of the market to 23%.
Counter says it expects a small restoration with “single-digit share progress in 2025”.
It predicts the uptick in gross sales will likely be pushed by the growing adoption of AI options, and a better emphasis of offering a wider vary of well being knowledge.
