Shipments grew in Q2 from the year before, too
The smartwatch market is more crowded than ever with newer premium models launching almost every other month. Samsung, to name a brand, just came out with its Galaxy Watch 5 series of devices. But it turns out, in a bit of surprise, that the Galaxy Watch 4’s popularity has had an impressive carry-over effect. Even more astonishing, the Korean manufacturer made its gains in a growing overall market for smartwatches.
Samsung grew its share of global smartwatch shipments from 7.4% to 9.2% between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022. Apple, on the other hand, dropped from 30.6% to 29.3% during the same period. These findings are part of the Global Smartwatch Model Tracker published by Counterpoint Research.
Global shipments for the second quarter were up 13% from the same time last year with the phenomenon most prominent in India, where the segment has been supercharged with the arrival of low-cost smartwatches that cost a fraction of their more expensive alternatives — including the Galaxy Watch 4 series, which was quite popular in North America — helping to blow up retail channel movements by 347%. In the course of a year, India has grown its share of smartwatch shipments from 6% to 22% of the pie, surpassing China by one percentage point to claim the second spot. North America still leads the pack, although shipments shrunk by 4% year over year.
Sujeong Lim, Associate Director at Counterpoint, said that the smartwatch market held its own despite previous predictions of a downturn. She added that 30% of the models shipped in India during Q2 2022 sold for under $50, resulting in the widespread adoption of smartwatches in the region. The key drivers for India were regional brands like Fire-Boltt and Noise, with the latter growing by 298% from last year.
Huawei, which held the second spot in smartwatch shipments just a year ago, has been shoved to third place. However, the brand continued to dominate the Chinese smartwatch market for a third consecutive quarter. Amazfit’s shipments fell by 11% in China, though the company did fairly well in India, growing by 65% from the first quarter. Xiaomi’s global smartwatch market share dropped marginally in Q2 2022.
