Smartwatch shipments jumped a very healthy 48 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2019, according to a new Counterpoint research note. Interestingly, the top nine brands account for 75 percent of the market.
Apple leads the smartwatch market and grew just faster industry pace: 49 percent. That helped Apple expand market share slightly to 35.8 percent.
Samsung’s return to form with the Galaxy Watch paid off as its shipments climbed a whopping 127 percent, giving it 11.1 percent of the smartwatch space. Fitbit’s revival continued with a surge to 5.5 percent of the field. And Huawei’s clout in the smartphone world clearly rubbed off on the Watch GT, as its share grew from nearly nothing to 2.8 percent.
That’s not to say that everything was rosy. Fossil, Garmin, Amazfit and Imoo all saw their share dip. Still, the data suggests that most larger smartwatch makers are on the right track. In addition to the usual refinements, perks like LTE data and the Apple Watch’s ECG are helping these devices become genuinely useful tools for communication and health, not just nice-to-have luxuries.
