Apple doesn’t just hold a lead over its competitors in the wearables market. It captured a 36.5 percent share of the market in the final quarter of 2019.
Second-place Xiaomi’s slice of the pie was under 11 percent.
A new report by research firm IDC looked at the total number of units shipped during the holiday quarter and Apple asserted its dominance largely on the strength of its “hearables,” AirPods, AirPods Pro and Beats headsets.
Apple, however, is not the big story in the IDC report. The research showed that consumers are finally beginning to buy into this category in record numbers.
Globally, the wearables market grew by 82.3 percent in the fourth quarter with a record 118.9 million devices shipped.
That growth, however, is less in the wrist and more in the ear. Audio-listening gadgets captured 55.3 percent of the entire market. Wrist-worn devices, from smartwatches to smart wristbands, held 43.8 percent of the total market, compared to 68.6 percent last season. Still, wrist wearables grew by 16.3 percent.
For all of 2019, vendors shipped 336.5 million wearables, compared to 117 million units in 2018.
During its earnings call in January, Apple alluded to its success with wearables. CEO Tim Cook said Apple sold $10 billion worth of wearable, largely due to the popularity of the AirPods Pro.
Apple Watch units shipped during Q4 dipped just over 5 percent compared to the 2018 holiday quarter.
“2019 marked a strong step forward for the worldwide wearables market,” said Ramon T. Llamas, research director for IDC’s wearables team. “Hearables were the big story due to new product introductions and more smartphones cutting the cord with traditional earphones, practically driving users to purchase a hearable. Not to be overshadowed were smartwatches and fitness trackers, which both posted record annual volumes from an abundance of lower-cost models.”
