Global sales of smart watches have dropped for the first time, the new figures indicate, largely due to a sharp decline in the popularity of the market leader, Apple.
The Counterpoint market research company claims that 7% less devices were sent in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Apple watch shipments fell 19% during this period, says Counterpoint.
It blames the collapse on a lack of new features in the latest Apple devices, and the fact that a high -end Ultra 3 model has never been materialized.
“The largest driver of the decrease was North America, where the absence of upgrades of ultra 3 and minimal features in the S10 range led consumers to remember purchases,” said the main main research analyst Anshika Jain.
Apple was also struck by sales and import prohibitions in the United States at the end of 2023 and at the beginning of 2024 due to a contested patent concerning monitoring of the level of blood oxygen – which, according to Ms. Jain, also contributed to a drop in sales figures in the first half of 2024.
It has kept 22% of the market share in the last three months of 2024, compared to 25% a year earlier.
Despite the overall decrease, last year saw a massive increase in sales of intelligent Chinese manufacturing watches of brands such as Xiaomi, Huawei and Imoo.
Sales in China also increased from 19% of the market to 25% in the last quarter of 2023.
It was the first time that he recorded more sales of smart money than India or North America, according to Counterpoint.
“Huawei, Imoo and Xiaomi were the Chinese market runners,” said Jain.
Chinese manufacturers also seemed to draw on another trend – the growing popularity of smart watches for children, the only segment on the market to develop in 2024.
Imoo, known in China under the name of “Little Genius”, specializes in children’s smart watches and has seen a 22% increase in expeditions.
“Children’s intelligent watch segment is gaining ground because parents are concerned about the safety of their children, and they wish to follow and stay constantly connected with their children,” said Balbir Singh of Counterpoint.
But Imoo was overshadowed by an increase of 135% of the expeditions of the technological company based in Beijing Xiaomi.
His trackers of intelligent band activities are sold for a fraction of the price of rivals made by Apple and Samsung.
India was another major contributor to the fall in world sales, which increased from 30% of the market to 23%.
Counter says that he expects a small recovery with “growth as a percentage to a figure in 2025”.
He predicts that the increase in sales will be motivated by the growing adoption of AI characteristics, and a greater emphasis on providing a wider range of health data.
