Xiaomi Uses Low Pricing, Stacked Feature Set to Take Top Wearables Spot, Says Report
Xiaomi leapfrogged Fitbit and Apple in Q2 to become the world’s largest wearables vendor, with 17 percent market share, said a Friday Strategy Analytics report. Xiaomi had 3.7 million of the 21.6 million wearables shipments worldwide in the quarter, said…
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SA. Category shipments were 8 percent higher than in Q2 2016, it said, on strong demand for low-cost fitness bands in China and premium smartwatches in the U.S. Xiaomi’s Mi Band fitness trackers are “wildly popular in China” due to competitive pricing and a feature set that includes heart-rate monitors, step counters and calendar alerts, said analyst Neil Mawston. Fitbit’s 3.4 million shipped wearables placed it second, with 15.7 percent share worldwide, down from 29 percent a year ago, said the research firm. Fitbit is “at risk of being trapped” between low-end fitness bands sold by Xiaomi and Apple Watch, he said. Apple’s 2.8 million iPhone shipments in Q2 were up 56 percent from the year-ago quarter giving it 13 percent share, but Apple lost its leadership spot to Xiaomi because it doesn’t play in the massive fitness band subcategory, said analyst Cliff Raskind. “The rumored upcoming Watch Series 3 launch with enhanced health tracking could prove to be a popular smartwatch model and enable Apple to reclaim the top wearables spot later this year.”