According to Canalys more than 720,000 Android Wear devices shipped in 2014 out of a total of 4.6 million smart wearable bands, with the Moto 360 the clear leader in Q4 despite supply constraints.
“LG’s round G Watch R performed significantly better than its original G Watch, while Asus and Sony entered the market with their own Android Wear devices,” Canalys said. “Pebble meanwhile shipped a total of one million units from its 2013 launch through to the end of 2014. Continual software updates, more apps in its app store and price cuts in the fall helped maintain strong sales in the second half of the year.”
Canalys VP and principal analyst, Chris Jones, said: “Samsung has launched six devices in just 14 months, on different platforms and still leads the smart band market. But it has struggled to keep consumers engaged and must work hard to attract developers while it focuses on Tizen for its wearables.”
Xiaomi shipped over a million units of its Mi Band, the colourful and affordable basic band, by following a completely different strategy, Canalys says. “This included one day of sales of over 103,000 units.
Canalys research analyst, Jason Low, adds: ‘Though the Mi Band is a lower-margin product than competing devices, Xiaomi entered the wearables market with a unique strategy, and its shipment volumes show how quickly a company can become a major force in a segment based solely on the size of the Chinese market.”
Canalys defines basic wearable bands as devices serving a specific set of purposes that act as accessories to smart devices, are designed to be worn on the body and not carried, and that cannot run third-party computing applications. Smart wearable bands are multi-purpose devices that serve as accessories to smart devices, are designed to be worn on the body and not carried, and are capable of running third-party computing applications. Bands are wearables designed to be wrapped around the body and do not include activity trackers in the form of clips.
