Image source: Huami

Apple leads Q1 wearables sales in Europe, Huami climbs up rankings

Apple was the largest wearable company in Europe during Q1 2021, increasing its market share by about 5% year-on-year. Earwear is expected to capture a growing portion of the market going forward at the expense of fitness bands.


Strong growth despite pandemic

This is according to IDC’s latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker. It shows that some 22 millions of wearables were shipped on the continent in the first quarter of this year. Which means despite the pandemic, there’s been healthy year-on-year growth of around 33%.

The Cupertino outfit captured a 35.6% market share which was up 5.6% on the same three month period in 2020. In fact, Apple wearable shipments increased by an incredible 57.8% during this period to 7.8 million devices.

Samsung trailed behind at 16.1%, having seen its share decline slightly. Xiaomi and Huawei also saw a fall in market share, to 11.5% and 6.6% respectively. Xiaomi in particular struggled to make headway at the start of the year. No doubt, it’s fortunes will have picked up in the months that followed due to the release of Mi Band 6.

Apple leads Q1 wearables sales in Europe, Huami climbs up rankings

In terms of devices, it is earwear that is currently the biggest wearable seller in terms of units shipped. It accounted for around a half of shipments last year and is expected to increase this to 60% by 2025. Smartwatches are also projected to see healthy growth over the next five years.

Essential reading: Best fitness trackers and health gadgets

Wristbands, which have been struggling of late, will continue to see their importance shrink. IDC sees their 19.7% market share in 2020 falling to just 11.7% in 2025. Wearable tech is becoming cheaper and easier to manufacture. Hence, smartwatches are eating into the share of wrist bands.

Apple leads Q1 wearables sales in Europe, Huami climbs up rankings


Zepp Health

Apple is not the only wearable brand that is doing well. A few weeks ago Huami touted the success of its sub-brand Zepp Health. They’ve climbed into the fourth place globally in terms of smartwatch sales in Q1 2021. This is the first time Zepp Health was ranked so high.

Apple leads Q1 wearables sales in Europe, Huami climbs up rankings

The ever-growing lineup of Amazfit and Zepp watches sold some 1.65 million units between January and March. That’s up by two-thirds on the same period in 2020, the highest increase of all adult watch brands.

Apple leads Q1 wearables sales in Europe, Zepp Health climbs up rankings

Zepp Health is the number 1 selling smartwatch brand by shipments in Brazil, Russia and Spain. It is in second place in Italy, third in Poland, fourth in Germany, India, Indonesia and Thailand. In the US, UK and France it is ranked in sixth place.

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Ivan Jovin

Ivan has been a tech journalist for over 7 years now, covering all kinds of technology issues. He is the guy who gets to dive deep into the latest wearable tech news.

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