The wearables market nearly doubled in 2019 compared to 2018, according to a report by market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC). Apple remains by far the largest player with a market share of almost a third.
Last year, a total of 336.5 million wearables were sold. Of those, 106.5 million were from Apple, which has a market share of nearly 32 percent.
In 2018, another 178 million wearables were sold. Back then, Apple still had 27 percent of the market with 48 million products sold.
Apple is followed by the Chinese company Xiaomi, which sold 41.7 million wearables in 2019 and has a market share of 12.4 percent. Samsung is number three and is the fastest grower. The company sold 30.9 million wearables last year, a growth of 153.3 percent from 2018.
Big increase in sales of wireless earplugs
Last year, a striking number of wireless earplugs and headphones were sold: 170.5 million products, a growth of 250 percent. In 2018, 48.6 of these ‘hearables’ were still sold.
“2019 was a significant step forward for the global wearables market,” said Ramon T. Llamas, research director of IDC’s wearables team. “‘Hearables’ were the story thanks to the introduction of new products and as more and more smartphones stop supporting traditional earplugs, forcing users to buy wireless earplugs.”
The earplugs and headphones have therefore overtaken smart watches. In 2018, these were the most sold products. In 2019, 92.4 million such watches were sold.
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