What They Say
IDC put out its data for wearables sales for 2020 and for Q4 2020. The good news was a boost of 27.2% year on year in Q4 to 153.5 million, but the bad news was that the big growth was in hearables which are 64.2% of the market, with smartwatches next at 24.1% share. Shipments for the full year grew 28.4% to 444.7 million units.
Wristbands declined by 17.8% and accounted for just 11.5% of the volume. The market was affected by chip shortages.
The top brands were Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung, Huawei and BoAt in Q4 and the article linked has tables for brand details for the year and the quarter.
What We Think
Hearables really seem to have been a big hit last year, which is slightly a surprise to me. I would have expected that with less travel, ear buds would have declined, but perhaps the social distancing has made travellers feel more isolated and happier to use them. (BR)
