According to the latest industry report by research firm Canalys, Xiaomi has surpassed Apple to become the world’s leading smartwatch manufacturer. The global wearable market grew by 6% in second quarter of 2021, mostly spearheaded by Xiaomi themselves. The Chinese tech giant shipped 8 million wearables in Q2 2021, which was almost about 20 percent of the entire market.
Read: Smart EVs break cover with Concept 1
It is the first time that Apple has been usurped in the wearable market since the first Apple Watch was launched. Apple sold 7.9 million units of its wearables in the Q2 2021.
Xiaomi has also recently surpassed Apple in smartphone shipments for the first time. In the wearable market, the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 is the major reason for the company’s meteoric rise. This is despite it not having launched in India yet, which is its biggest market.
“Xiaomi made a wise move to hasten the release of the Mi Band 6, which is a more compelling device than its predecessor,” said research analyst Cynthia Chen. “Xiaomi’s quick pivot to basic watches also helped the company boost its wristwatch shipments by 1.3 million units this quarter.”
As was the case in the smartphone market, a major loser in the latest period in the wearable market was Huawei. Their troubles with the United States saw their shipments fall by about 34 percent year-on-year, while Xiaomi saw annual growth of 273 percent. Huawei is down to third place, while fourth and fifth place is held by Fitbit and Samsung, respectively.
Interestingly, smartwatches are growing in popularity while the less capable fitness bands are waning in popularity. We believe this is because the fitness bands were the entry point for most people, seeing what theses devices can do. They are now ‘upgrading’ their technology to the full smart wearable.
