It’s been tough for wearables lately with companies like Motorola taking a break from smartwatches and word that Fitbit may be buying up Pebble. But not everything is as it seems.
According to the latest analyst report from IDC, wearables are still doing well with sales up 3.1% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2016. Fitness trackers in particular are the top sellers cornering 85% of the market and have experienced double-digit growth.
Fitbit has come out on top beating out the likes of Apple and Samsung thanks to the Charge 2 tracker. The company has grown 11% year-on-year and moved 5.3 million devices.
Read this: Who is actually buying wearable tech?
In second place is Xiaomi with 3.8 million. The company is going strong in China with its Mi Band 2 but struggling to reach wrists outside its home country. Because of this, it has only seen 4% YoY growth. Garmin’s nabbed the third place slot with 1.3 million sales likely due to its laser focus on the extreme fitness fiends. IDC notes that Garmin is also showing off its knack for fashion with the Fenix Chronos sports watch.
Apple remains the top dog in terms of best smartwatch sales but not so for overall wearables. The Cupertino crew and Samsung round out the bottom tier in fourth and fifth place respectively with 1.1 million and 1 million. The timing of the Apple Watch Series 2 and Series 1 releases played a part in the decline while Samsung’s Note 7 recall woes didn’t help the Gear S3. However IDC says the Korean company was able to successfully ship out the LTE Gear S2s.
IDC senior analyst Jitesh Ubrani says it’s still too early to tell but there’s been a shift from smartwatches to fitness trackers: “Where smartwatches were once expected to take the lead, basic wearables now reign supreme.” Apparently simplicity, dedicated fitness tracking and fashion first devices are what’s predicted to win you over.
Regardless, we still don’t believe smartwatches are dead – rather, the industry is just regrouping to figure out how to best serve your wrist.
SOURCE:http://www.wareable.com/fitness-trackers/fitness-trackers-top-wearable-sales-3605
