The COVID-19-led drought hasn’t hit the wearable market much, as the industry continues to thrive amidst the pandemic – recording a 12% YoY growth in 2022.
Counterpoint Research noted strong growth in the budget and high-end segments, where OEMs sold millions of wearables last year. Out of them, Apple stood at No 1 with over 50 million sales, followed by Samsung and others seeing negligible growth.
Wearable Market Growth in 2022
While the whole smartphone market is shrinking due to supply chain constraints triggered by COVID-19, the wearable market is doing just fine. The latest data from Counterpoint Research revealed that the wearable market has grown by 12% year-on-year – while the smartphone industry is plummeting during the same period.
The research noted the high-end (over $400) wearable market seeing a staggering 129% increase over 2021. This, besides the entry-level (under $100) smartwatches gained a modest growth but left the rest of the field shrunk. In terms of demographics, North America continues to lead the wearable market sales with a decent 6% growth, while India takes over second place with a 151% YoY increase.
In terms of market players, it’s Apple again – catering to 50 million sales for the first time in 2022, an increase of 17%. The Cupertino-based company hails a 34.8% market share while picking up an astonishing 60% of the overall revenue.
Apple is followed by Samsung with a 9.8% global market share and a revenue growth of just 0.5% in 2022. Well, its sales increased by 12% compared to the previous year, mostly driven by its Galaxy Watch 5 Series. The reason for Apple dominating this space is mostly due to its software integration – WatchOS with iOS and macOS – offering a smooth flow.
People who’re using Wear OS smartwatches often complain about various issues, from lag to lackluster designs and poor battery life. Though Google refined these issues with the Wear OS 3, it’s still not possible to beat Apple in this segment anytime soon.
