Wearable devices market rose 1.2 percent to 25.1 million units in terms of shipments during the first quarter of 2018, an IDC report said.
Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers, said: “Roughly one third of all wearables included cellular connectivity this quarter, which has allowed new use-cases to emerge.”
Watches and wrist bands accounted for 95 percent of the shipments. Clothing grew 58.6 percent.
Apple Watch shipments increased 13.5 percent as the launch of a cellular connected Watch entered additional markets. Telcos benefitted from the inclusion of cellular because of new revenue stream for them. Apple increased its smart watch share from 14.3 percent to 16.1 percent in Q1.
Xiaomi is the second wearable product company with 14.8 percent share. Due to the lowest average selling price (ASP) among the top 5 companies, Xiaomi captured 1.8 percent of the dollar value of the market during the quarter.
