Apple leads global smartwatch market with 40% share in Q4 2020: Counterpoint

Apple continues to lead the global smartwatch market with 6% YoY growth. The company shipped 12.9 million units of the Watch Series 6 and Watch SE, accounting for a 40% market share in Q4 2020.

In 2020, the global smartwatch shipments rose only 1.5% due to the COVID-19 pandemic with Apple, Samsung and Huawei driving the market, according to the latest report from Counterpoint Research.

Apple continues to lead the global smartwatch market with 6% YoY growth. The company shipped 12.9 million units of the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, accounting for a 40% market share in Q4 2020.

Samsung grabbed the second spot with 1% YoY growth in shipments, rebounding in the latter half of the year with the launch of the Galaxy 3 Watch. The South Korean technology giant accounted for a 10% market share in Q4 2020.

According to the Counterpoint report, Huawei helped drive the growth of the overall smartwatch market with its shipments growing 26% YoY despite the restrictions imposed by the US government. HONOR also performed well and its shipments doubled from 2019.

"The smartwatch market is being driven by three premium brands - Apple, Samsung and Huawei. We believe the ASPs will continue to rise over the next two to three years as these companies' flagship models continue to lead," said Sujeong Lim, Counterpoint Senior Analyst.

Fitbit which was recently acquired by Google accounted for 7% of the global smartwatch market share while China's BBK captured 6% shares. Other Chinese players such as Amazfit and Xiaomi also witnessed double-digit growth in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Lim expects that Apple's success with the Watch SE model will likely spur other brands like Samsung to release similar variants, moving closer to the mass market.