World gross sales of smartwatches have fallen for the primary time, new figures point out, largely resulting from a pointy decline within the reputation of market chief, Apple.
Market analysis agency Counterpoint says 7% fewer of the units have 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 a scarcity of recent options in Apple’s newest units, and the actual 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,” 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 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 last three months of 2024, down from 25% a yr earlier.
“We have been by means of a interval the place the smartwatch has gone from being a brand new and thrilling gadget, to one thing now that is stabilising – the characteristic set is not altering very dramatically yr over yr,” mentioned Leo Gebbie, principal analyst at CCS Perception.
Regardless of the general decline, final yr did see a large rise in gross sales for Chinese language-made smartwatches from manufacturers comparable 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.
The Chinese language producers additionally appeared to faucet into one other pattern – the rising reputation of smartwatches for kids, the one phase of the market to develop in 2024.
Imoo, identified in China as “Little Genius”, specialises in kids’s sensible watches and noticed a 22% rise in shipments.
“The youngsters’ sensible watch phase is gaining traction as mother and father are involved for his or her kids’s security, and so they want to trace and keep consistently related with their kids,” Counterpoint’s Balbir Singh mentioned.
However Imoo was eclipsed by a 135% rise in shipments from Beijing-based tech firm Xiaomi.
Its Sensible Band exercise trackers promote for a fraction of the worth of rivals made by Apple and Samsung.
“We’re seeing the massive client electronics gamers like Apple and Samsung actually simply look to drive a method greater margin and never have interaction within the worth struggle,” mentioned Mr Gebbie.
“Xiaomi has carried out a very good job of promoting units, notably in areas like southern and japanese Europe the place that higher affordability tends to resonate much more strongly with prospects.”
One other giant contributor to the worldwide gross sales drop was India, which fell from 30% of the market to 23%.
He mentioned this was partly due to a “bubble” in ultra-cheap units from Indian producers which has now burst.
“We learn and noticed so much by way of complaints in regards to the high quality of units, with folks being sad with them,” he mentioned.
“For these firms, there’s been a way that from this level onwards they’d be higher served by possibly making and promoting merchandise with a barely longer lifespan.”
Counterpoint says it expects a small restoration within the international market, with “single-digit share progress in 2025”.
It predicts the uptick in gross sales can be pushed by the growing adoption of AI options, and a higher emphasis of offering a wider vary of well being knowledge.
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