It is both surprising and also not surprising given our current circumstance that smartwatches are having a good first half of the year while everything else seems going downhill. Global smartwatch shipments are up 20% for the first half of the year as compared to the same period last year. As expected, Apple is the dominant bread while Garmin and Huawei are the far second and third brands that came closest. If Google’s pursuit of Fitbit gets finalized, it would be interesting to see how this chart would look like next year.
According to the report by Counterpoint Research, January-June of 2020 was a good first half in terms of smartwatch shipments around the world. The numbers grew 20% compared to the first half of 2019 even though this first half of 2020 has been challenging for a lot of businesses. Shipments grew particularly in India (+57%), Europe (+9%), and the U.S (+5%) which somehow made up for the decline in other markets.
The top three brands made up 70% of the shipments for the first half but Apple is the runaway leader with 51.4% of the market share. Meanwhile, Huawei did well mostly due to the Watch G2 series and because of the China market. Their volumes went up 90% in their homeland and the rest of Asia and despite challenges in the U.S. they also went up 57% globally. In Europe and North America, Garmin was also pretty popular, going up 31% globally. The two brands though had a combination of 17.7% of the market which is pitiful compared to Apple.
While a lot of countries went into quarantine to protect themselves from the coronavirus, people started to get more interested and focused on their health. So instead of spending money on smartphones, they started investing in wearable devices that would help them monitor and track their health. They looked at devices that had heart rate monitors and fall detection and square-faced devices seems to be more popular than its round counterpart.
Other brands that the research mentioned but barely made a blip in the overall market were Amazfit, Xiaomi, Fitbit, Mobvoi, and Suunto. If Google’s purchase of Fitbit does get finalized, it would be interesting to see how or if the market would shift. We’ll find out next year if they ever get the go signal to finalize the acquisition.