Wrist, ear worn devices lead wearable market in first quarter of 2019: Report

San Francisco: Riding on the popularity of wrist-worn and ear-worn devices, global shipments of wearable devices reached 49.6 million units during the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, up 55.2 per cent from the previous year, the International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Friday.

The top five wearable companies by shipment volume, market share, and year-over-year (YoY) growth in Q1 2019 included Apple at the top spot followed by Xiaomi and Huawei with 25.8 per cent, 13.3 per cent and 10 per cent market share, respectively.

According to IDC’s “Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker”, wrist-worn wearables accounted for the majority of the market with 63.2 per cent share while ear-worn devices experienced the fastest growth (135.1 per cent YoY) and accounted for 34.6 per cent of all wearables shipped.