Reduced market share, but Apple still accounts for half of global smartwatch sales

The global smart watch market (smartwatch) has almost no growth in 2020 due to the raging Covid-19 epidemic, but in 2021 it will record a significant increase of up to 24%, according to new results. Counter Research’s father. The fourth quarter alone recorded 40 million devices sold, which is the highest sales ever recorded in a quarter.

Counterpoint expert said that the growth of the smartwatch market in the past year shows the great potential of this industry in the future. With the ability to monitor important health parameters such as blood pressure, SpO2 (blood oxygen level), heart rate measurement, etc., these devices have become extremely popular. In addition, the smartwatch will be increasingly attractive as it becomes a standalone wearable device because it can connect to 4G and 5G.

In the smartwatch segment, Apple still maintains the No. 1 position with 30% market share, although it has decreased by 3% compared to the same period last year due to increasingly fierce competition. On the other hand, the average selling price of the Apple Watch increased by 3% because Apple did not release any SE models in 2021. Despite accounting for less than a third of the market, Apple accounted for half of the total market revenue.

Samsung is one of the successful smartwatch manufacturers in 2021. It recorded a record 200% increase in the third quarter of 2021, the highest level ever for a brand from Korea. After that, the company maintained its performance in the fourth quarter. It is clear that Samsung’s cooperation with Google to bring Wear OS operating system to new products has recently been more effective than using only its Tizen OS operating system. before.

Meanwhile, despite the sanctions from the US, Huawei still launches new smart watch models for both adults and children. However, the total number of devices sold decreased compared to the same period last year because Huawei launched the Watch GT 3 and Watch Fit Mini quite late. In turn, after launch, the two devices brought in almost double Q4 sales compared to Q3.

Imoo, an uncommon smartwatch brand in Vietnam, will not launch any devices in 2021, resulting in the brand recording a slight decrease. However, thanks to the export of products to markets outside China such as Europe, imoo maintains its No. 1 position in the children’s smartwatch segment.

Chinese brand Amazfit has successfully expanded its position in the market in 2021, recording growth of more than 20% in the past 2 years. The company’s average selling price also increased by 11% thanks to the growing market share of the GTR and GTS series, high-end models.

Along with the overall growth of the market, Garmin is an unexpectedly successful brand in 2021. Initially, the company focused on introducing high-priced smartwatches to special audiences such as pilots and divers. But then gradually shifted the focus to products that appealed to mass consumers by hitting heavily on price and design. As a result, a growth of 35% and taking the sixth place globally, up one place from the same period last year, are the fruits of change for Garmin.

In contrast to its competitors, Fitbit showed an unsatisfactory result with a 15% drop in market share compared to last year. The reason comes from the fact that after launching the Sense and Versa 3 models in the third quarter of 2020, Fitbit did not launch a new device, it seems that the company has changed its strategy and restructured after merging with Google. . However, the company is expected to return with the release of Versa 4 in the second half of 2022.

Xiaomi is also a successful name of the year with Mi Watch Lite launching in the first half of 2021 and Redmi Watch 2 launching in the fourth quarter of 2021. In this series, the company launched a ‘Lite’ version for users to have more selection and contribute to expanding market share.

According to Counterpoint’s analysis, one of the drivers driving the growth of the global smartwatch market in 2021 is the expansion of the Indian market. The Indian smartwatch market will only account for 3% of the global market in 2020, but will grow 4 times in 2021 to bring the market share rate to nearly 10%.