Wearables shipments in the third quarter surged to 21 million worldwide from 7.1 million a year earlier, said IDC on Thursday.
According to the research firm, the market is led by fitness band maker Fitbit, which shipped 4.7 million units during the three months to 30 September, followed by Apple, which shipped 3.9 million watches.
"Smartwatches have drawn increased attention to the market from the likes of Apple, Motorola, Pebble, and Samsung, but this has not dampened interest in fitness trackers," said IDC, in a research note. "By the end of 3Q15, shipment volumes for both product categories increased sequentially and year over year, showing that, for now, the categories can co-exist."
Fitbit saw continued growth in Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) during the quarter, said IDC. The company also benefited from its corporate wellness strategy; its latest customer, U.S. retailer Target, in September placed an order for 335,000 fitness trackers for its employees. More than 70 Fortune 500 companies have now equipped their staff with Fitbit devices, IDC said.
This helped Fitbit claim a 22.2% share of the wearables market (see table).
Apple follows hot on its heels though with an 18.6% market share. IDC said the electronics giant has seen growing interest in its entry level Apple Watch Sport devices, and has strengthened the proposition with an updated operating system, WatchOS 2, which supports native third-party apps.
Coming in third is China’s Xiaomi, whose Mi Band is proving popular in its home market, helping it to ship 3.7 million units, good enough for a 17.4% share of the wearables market.
Meanwhile, navigation specialist Garmin took fourth place with shipments of 900,000, while fifth place belongs to China’s BBK – owner of wearables maker XTC, which shipped 700,000 devices.
"XTC…beat Samsung for the number five position by 100,000 units in its worldwide debut," noted IDC. Unlike Samsung – which offers a broad range of smartwatches – XTC makes just one wearable device, a watch phone for children called the Y01.
"The early stages of the wearables market have led to tight competition among the leading vendors," said Ramon Llamas, research manager for IDC’s wearables team, noting that "Chinese vendors have seized upon market momentum to grab market share."
