Apple’s wearable is turning into a real success. Shipments of Apple Watch grew 49 percent in the first three months of this year.And it makes up the lion’s share of all smartwatches.

This company’s revenue for this product category grew 30 percent last quarter.

Healthcare is the Apple Watch killer app

“Apple continues to focus on the health-related features like ECG and fall detection in the Apple Watch Series 4,” Satyajit Sinha, an analyst with Counterpoint Research. “The ECG capability in the Apple Watch is the most desirable feature, according to our latest Consumer Lens survey.”

In the January-March period, Apple’s wearables business pulled in $5.1 billion, though that figure also includes sales of AirPods, HomePod and other accessories. The increasing revenue from these products, coupled with a decline in iPhone sales, is helping to change Apple.

The total smartwatch market

There was good news for most makers of this type of wearable. “Global smartwatch shipments grew a healthy rate of 48% year-on-year (YoY) in Q1 2019 driven by Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, and Huawei” noted Counterpoint.

Apple’s share of the worldwide smartwatch market is at 35.8 percent. Its closest competitor is Samsung with 11.1 percent. Fitbit has 5.5 percent of shipments — that’s based on just smartwatches, not activity trackers.

Counterpoint’s Sinha added, “The heart rate sensor for health monitoring, GPS and pedometer sensors for fitness, and NFC embedded for payment are some of the key integrated technologies. Related use-cases and in addition to notifications with cellular capability are driving the smartwatch adoption. However, limited battery life remains a pain point for consumer’s decision-making process, irrespective of region and price band.”