China’s Wearable Device Shipments Down 7% YoY in Q1
According to a report released by IDC on Friday, the shipments of wearable devices in China in the first quarter of 2022 were 25.84 million units, down 7.5% year-on-year.
In particular, ear devices shipped 15.96 million units in the first quarter of 2022, up 3.5% year-on-year, while wireless headphone shipments maintained a year-on-year growth rate of 3.2%. The overdraft of demand in the promotional periods at the end of last year, a limited upgrade of product functions, and the spread of the epidemic in some areas, all contributed to an overall slowing in the growth rate of sales.
Just over 7 million units of watches were shipped in the first quarter of 2022, down 15.3% year-on-year, including 3.86 million adult watches and 3.3 million children’s watches. In this quarter, watch makers focused on optimizing their channel inventory and were busy making preparations for the 618 Shopping Festival promotion this summer. Furthermore, restrictions on outdoor activities also contributed to a decline in first quarter shipments.
In the first quarter, 2.63 million units of bands were shipped, down 33.6% year-on-year. The band market has been affected by broader competition in the industry, the epidemic, and the potential of new products down the line.
IDC said that on the basis of current exercise function, health monitoring related functions have been gradually improved for wearable devices. In addition, they still have a wider range of uses to be explored, such as interacting with VR and other devices in games, and monitoring the status of drivers.
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Pan Xuefei, research Chief Executive Officer of IDC China, believes that in the past three years, sports watches, wireless headphones and noise reduction headphones have contributed to the rapid growth of the wearable market. On the one hand, the market needs to extend the staged growth cycle as much as possible through better positioning, while on the other hand, it needs to continue to explore new growth areas.
