Apple Took Commanding Share in 2021 Wearables, Says IDC

The global wearables industry shipped a record-high 171 million units in Q4, up 10.8% from the same 2020 quarter, as sustained demand for health and fitness trackers, plus hearables helped the market maintain its momentum, reported IDC Wednesday. Shipments for the full year 2021 totaled 533.6 million units, up 20% over 2020, it said.

Hearables again were the star of the wearables show in Q4, rising 9.6% year over year and generating nearly two-thirds of the unit shipments in the wearables market, said IDC. Smartwatches continued to steal share from wristbands, “as the larger form factor offers consumers more features and customization,” it said. Shipments in “lesser-known” wearables categories such as smart glasses grew 94.1% in the quarter.

Though supply chain woes and component shortages were “a constant battle” for many companies during 2021, “many of the issues began to subside during the quarter and allowed brands to ship record volumes while broadening their product lines," said IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani. The supply crunch forced many companies “to think about services,” said Ubrani, and services likely will play “a key role in the wearables market moving forward.” He predicted wearables OEMs will “experiment with their business models by subsidizing the hardware purchase though ongoing services revenue."

Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung, Huawei and India’s Imagine Marketing were the top five wearables brands for both Q4 and full-year 2021, said IDC. Apple held a commanding lead over Xiaomi in Q4, though its share slipped 1.1 points from a year earlier to 34.9%. Though Apple “remained far out front” for the year, a “telling sign” of the wearables market is “the long list of vendors coming afterwards," said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas.

Samsung, Huawei and Imagine Marketing had “market-beating” year-over-year growth, said IDC. “That shows demand is spreading out to other companies and products, all of which bring added diversity and price competition to attract and retain more customers.” Since demand remains strong from “first-time users” of wearables, “vendors can court them with features similar to Apple's products but at much lower price points." Though Imagine Marketing, purveyor of India's boAt brand, controlled a fraction of Apple's share, its shipments in Q4 and full-year 2021 jumped 69.6% and 163.4%, respectively -- far and away the biggest increases of any other vendor.