When people think of smartwatches, they think of the Apple Watch, which we can safely say is largely thanks to Apple’s marketing efforts. However it seems that their marketing efforts did pay off because according to a recent report from Canalys, it seems that Apple’s smartwatch actually accounted for two-thirds of smartwatch shipments in 2015.Coming in second place is Samsung’s Gear S2, with the Pebble smartwatch in third, and Huawei in fourth. Note that these are just smartwatches, but if were to take a look at just fitness bands, Fitbit is clearly and obviously leading the way. This is then followed by Xiaomi’s Mi Bands which are a cheap and functional alternative to other brands out there.
According to analyst Daniel Matte, “Software increasingly belongs on the wrist, and this is the direction the market is going … As the next step along this path, the Fitbit Blaze is the right product for the company to develop. It is competitively priced and is still being squarely focused on fitness.”
It is an interesting analysis, especially since an earlier report did suggest that smartwatches could eventually overtake fitness bands in terms of popularity, due to the fact that they are able to do more things. Maybe that will still hold true, but last year Fitbit was the market leader in wearables, so only time will tell if users will start adopting smartwatches more than fitness bands.
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