Chinese Tech Companies Surge Past Apple in Wrist Device Market

Summary of Market Trends: Chinese technology firms are rapidly making strides, tightening their grip on the global wrist-worn device market, previously dominated by Apple Inc. AAPL.

Market Performance Insights: A report from IDC published on Wednesday indicates that the global wrist-worn device market, which includes smartwatches and wristbands, recorded shipments of 139 million units in the first three quarters of 2024.

Even with a slight 1% decline attributed to market saturation in significant markets like the U.S. and India, shipments from China reached an impressive 45.8 million units. This figure represents a notable 20.1% increase compared to last year.

Leading Manufacturers: Huawei Technologies emerged as the leader in the market, shipping 23.6 million units and securing a 16.9% market share, with popularity stemming from its GT5 series and Watch D2 models.

Apple’s Competition: Following closely was Apple with 22.5 million shipments, which translates to a 16.2% market share. However, Apple experienced a significant 12.8% drop in shipments compared to last year due to escalating competition.

More on the Rankings: Xiaomi Corp. XIACF placed third, delivering 20.5 million units and capturing a 14.7% market share.

Other Key Players: Following Xiaomi, Samsung and the BBK Group, which oversees brands like Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, and Realme, contributed 11.5 million and 7.8 million units, respectively.

Future Outlook: IDC projects a 3.2% year-on-year growth in China’s wrist device market, anticipating 62.5 million shipments by 2025. This growth will be fueled by diversified sales channels and advancements in health sensor technologies.

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Significance of These Developments: Apple’s challenges extend beyond wrist-worn devices. Reports from earlier this year indicated that Apple fell from third to sixth place in the Chinese market during the second quarter of 2024.

China’s push for technological independence has intensified in response to U.S. restrictions on semiconductor exports. Additionally, the country is making significant strides in artificial intelligence. Notably, Clem Delangue, CEO and co-founder of Hugging Face, has projected that China could lead the AI sector by 2025 due to its focus on open-source AI development.

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Disclaimer: This article was partly produced with the assistance of Benzinga Neuro and has been reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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