Apple devices led the wearables market in Q4 2018 – report

MANILA, Philippines – Apple remained at the top spot of the wearables market in the fourth quarter of last year, according to a recent report from market research firm IDC.

The Cupertino-based company reportedly shipped 16.2 million wearables during the quarter, which gave it a market share of 27.4%.

The Apple Watch made up a large part of Apple’s shipments at 10.4 million units. IDC points out that the Series 4 has been “off to a very strong start” with growth anticipated to continue as more organizations and consumers adopt the device.

Smartwatches all in all accounted for 29.8% of all wearables shipped – nearly half of which were contributed by the Apple Watch.

IDC said that Apple’s AirPods also contributed to its growth in the quarter.

Ear-worn devices saw a 66.4% growth from the the fourth quarter of 2017 and has accounted for 21.9% of the market share for wearables.

The report attributed this growth to the increasing popularity of smart assistants and the removal of the headphone jack in recent smartphone devices.

Meanwhile, smartwatches grew 55.2% percent to capture a 34.3% market share while wristbands accounted for 30% thanks to recent offerings from Xiaomi, Huawei, and Fitbit.

Xiaomi was behind Apple for the quarter at second with 7.5 million units shipped, which accounted for a 12.6% market share.

Huawei came in third with 5.7 million units shipped, capturing a 9.6% share. Closely behind it was Fitbit who shipped 5.5 million units, taking a 9.4% share.

Finally, Samsung came in fifth with 4 million units shipped, giving it a 6.8% share. – Rappler.com