Apple Watch Leads Global Shipments of Wearable Devices

According to a new report recently released by Canalys, Apple has once again found itself as the undisputed king of the world when it comes wearable devices. Buoyed by the success of the latest version of its smartwatch offering, officially called the Apple Watch Series 3 (which comes with its own LTE connectivity capabilities), the iPhone maker managed to register a total volume of shipments of 3.9 million units during the third quarter of this year. Released around a couple of months ago, the Apple Watch Series 3 is estimated to make up 800,000 of that total shipment volume, which should generate some advanced momentum for Apple heading into the busy holiday shopping season (usually the company’s best quarter stretch in any given year).

The 3.9 million units of wearable devices that Apple has shipped in Q3 2017 also represents a huge improvement over the 2.8 million units the company had posted during the same quarter in the previous year. More importantly, that shipment volume grants the tech giant a 23 percent share of the worldwide wearables market, edging Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, whose 21 percent market share is quite impressive in its own right. During the second quarter of this year, Xiaomi had held the top spot (for the first time ever), but has since seen itself dethroned by Apple three months later (still, no shame in that).

Not many people may realize this but Apple has had an interesting (to say the least) couple of years when it comes to its wearable devices. Exactly two years ago, it had led the industry in terms of global wearables shipments, but has relinquished that spot to its competitors until the first quarter of this year.

So whatever happened to Fitbit? All in all, Fitbit’s 20 percent market share during the third quarter of this year is still pretty solid, it is just not enough to beat industry leaders Apple and Xiaomi. Completing the top five is another Chinese mobile manufacturer, Huawei (with six percent market share), and South Korean brand Samsung (five percent market share).

Interestingly, the top five wearable vendors around the world all posted quarter over quarter improvements in terms of global shipments in Q3 2017, which is quite remarkable considering the third quarter is usually the slowest period in any year. But it bears noting that the industry is down three percent, mainly because of slower than usual demand for mainstream fitness bands.