A new IDC report shows Apple as still retains its position as a leader in the wearable market. In 2018, the company shipped 46.2 million devices. During the 4th Quarter of 2018, the international market for wearable gadgets grew 31.4 %, shipping 59.3 million units.
Shipment for the year rose 27.5% out of 172.2 million. Apple held its rank in the Q4, shipping a total number of 16.2 million devices, 10.4 million in them were Apple Watches.
In 2018, smartwatches grew 54.3% which accounted for 29.8% of all wearable devices. Apple watches accounted for almost half the market.
The report predicts that this growth will continue courtesy to the latest launch of New Apple Watch Series 4.
Moreover, the ‘ear-worn’ wearable category is recently revised by IDC. In this category, wireless headphones allowing users to turn to smart assistant via hot-word detection or a single touch. This revision has allowed the entry of devices such as Google’s Pixel Buds, Apple’s AirPods, Bose’s QC35II and more in the wearable group.
The rising number of users of ear-worn devices is also one of the contributing factors to the overall growth in wearables. For instance, there was 66.4% growth noted in this group in Q4.
The reasons for rapid growth include increasing popularity of smart assistants, and decreasing use of smartphone’s headphone jacks are two of the many contributing factors that led to this growth rate, IDC said.
Giving his comments, Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst at IDC Mobile Device Trackers said, “The market for ear-worn wearables has grown this past year substantially and we expect this to continue in the years to come,”
“It is the next battleground for companies as these types of headphones become a necessity for many given the exclusion of headphone jacks from modern devices. Add to that the rise of smart assistants and in-ear biometrics and companies have the perfect formula to sell consumers on a device that’s complementary to the device ecosystem that lives on their wrist and in their pocket.”
