In the first quarter of the year, Apple for the very first time had overtaken Fitbit which has been a dominant wearable brand for the longest time. However, in last quarter, Apple has been dethroned from the top spot and it isn’t by Fitbit.
According to Strategy Analytics’ wearable shipment report for Q2 2017, Xiaomi is now the world’s number 1 wearable brand. With strong demand for affordable fitness bands like the RM129 Mi Band 2, Xiaomi has shipped a total of 3.7 million units overtaking both Apple and Fitbit. This is a 23% increase year on year and Xiaomi currently controls 17.1% of the wearable market.
Bouncing back from a terrible quarter, Fitbit manages to increase its shipments quarter on quarter to 3.4 million in Q2 2017 but it is still a drop of 40% from the previous year. Fitbit now has a market share of 15.7% and it pales in comparison with its previous year at 28.5%. However, due to Apple’s drop in shipment to just 2.8 million units, Fitbit has moved up to a notch to second place leaving Apple at third place with a market share of 13.0%. However, Apple still shipped more year on year as they have only moved 1.8 million units in the same period last year. The wearable market as a whole is still growing with an 8% growth year over year.
Fitbit is hoping to turn its fortunes around with their upcoming smartwatch. Initially planned for early 2017 release, it looks like the Fitbit smartwatch won’t be ready until the end of this year. According to Fitbit, it should be ready in time for the year end holiday season. The new samrtwatch will come with built-in GPS and it will be water resistant up to 50 metres.
Fitbit is reported to have sold a total of 67 million wearables to date and their best seller right now is their Fitbit Charge 2 which was launched here from RM730 for the standard model.
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