The smartwatch market has hit an unexpected decline for the first time, with global shipments declining by 7% in 2024.
That’s if you go by the estimations and figures from Counterpoint Research, whose latest report hints the slowing market is primarily due to industry leader Apple.
Though the Cupertino giant doesn’t publish any details related to its shipments, Counterpoint suggests it suffered a 19% drop in sales last year. It attributes the brand’s struggles to increased competition, weaker upgrade cycles, and the absence of an Apple Watch Ultra 3 model.
The patent dispute that led to a US import ban on certain Apple Watch models is also cited as impacting shipments in the first half of the year.
However, while Apple and other major brands reportedly felt the pinch, some manufacturers saw growth in the challenging market. Chinese brands like Xiaomi and Huawei capitalized on the demand for budget-friendly and children’s smartwatches, helping China overtake North America and India to claim the largest smartwatch shipment share for the first time.
Xiaomi’s rapid expansion, bolstered by strong performance from its Watch S range and Redmi Watch series, propelled it into the top five global smartwatch brands.
Though the figures make for grim reading, analysts predict a slow rebound beginning in 2025. The growing integration of AI, coupled with more advanced health-tracking features, is expected to reinvigorate the segment.
Future smartwatches are also increasingly expected to incorporate features for more advanced heart health tracking, sleep apnea detection, and diabetes monitoring.
Whether these advancements will be enough to reverse the slump remains to be seen, especially with smart glasses and smart rings markets emerging as contenders in the space over the last couple of years. Either way, though, the next chapter for smartwatches is shaping up to be interesting.
