Apple Watch a Close Second Favorite, Behind Fitbit in Q3

2 Min Read Published: Dec 9th, 2015

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The Apple Watch has really been giving the wearable device market a run for its money, advancing on the number one spot as the most popular wearable. The popular market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC) just released their Q3 numbers for the shipment volume of wearable devices, and Apple is creeping up right behind popular fitness tracker Fitbit in the race for the top spot.

According to IDC’s report, the Apple Watch is situated in the number two spot, with 3.9 million units, while Fitbit stands in the number one spot with 4.7 million units. Fitbit’s numbers equate to 22.2% of the market share, while Apple comes in at 18.6%.

However, it should be taken into consideration that Fitbit nearly doubled its shipments over the past year, yet is still in close competition with Apple. Plus, Fitbit’s numbers are slightly inflated, given that Target purchased a 300k+ units for a company-wide fitness program.

There are a number of reasons that Apple has been able to secure itself in the top three of the wearables market, even though they were a late entry (the Apple Watch first debuted back in April 2015). Apple witnessed a higher percentage of consumers drawn towards the less-expensive Sport models. In response, it released gold and rose gold models to enhance consumer’s interest. Furthermore, Apple released watchOS2, thus allowing for the use of third party apps on the Apple Watch.

The big surprise of the Q3 roundup, though, was Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi. When it comes to wearables, the company jumped a staggering 815% in the past year. This drastic change is certainly due to the success of Xiaomi’s low-cost, long-lasting fitness tracker, the Mi Band, which only costs $15.00.

And the numbers just keep on rising, with no sign of the wearable market plateauing. IDC’s report revealed that a total of 21m wearables were shipped during the third financial quarter of 2015, a 197% increase on the 7.1m units shipped during the same time last year.