World gross sales of smartwatches have fallen for the primary time, new figures point out, largely as a consequence of a pointy decline within the reputation of market chief, Apple.
Market analysis agency Counterpoint says 7% fewer of the units had been shipped in 2024 in comparison with the 12 months 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 units, and the very fact a rumoured high-end Extremely 3 mannequin by no means materialised.
“The most important driver of the decline was North America, the place the absence of the Extremely 3 and minimal characteristic upgrades within the S10 lineup led shoppers to carry again purchases,” stated 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 stage 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 remaining three months of 2024, down from 25% a 12 months earlier.
Regardless of the general decline, final 12 months did see an enormous rise in gross sales for Chinese language-made smartwatches from manufacturers equivalent to Xiaomi, Huawei and Imoo.
Gross sales in China additionally grew from 19% of the market to 25% within the 12 months from the final quarter of 2023.
This was the primary time it recorded extra smartwatch gross sales than India or North America, in response to Counterpoint.
“Huawei, Imoo and Xiaomi had been the entrance runners of the China market,” stated Ms Jain.
The Chinese language producers additionally appeared to faucet into one other pattern – the rising reputation of smartwatches for kids, the one section of the market to develop in 2024.
Imoo, identified in China as “Little Genius”, specialises in youngsters’s good watches and noticed a 22% rise in shipments.
“The youngsters’ good watch section is gaining traction as dad and mom are involved for his or her youngsters’s security, they usually want to trace and keep continually related with their youngsters,” Counterpoint’s Balbir Singh stated.
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 value of rivals made by Apple and Samsung.
One other massive 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 development in 2025”.
It predicts the uptick in gross sales will likely be pushed by the growing adoption of AI options, and a higher emphasis of offering a wider vary of well being knowledge.
