Galaxy smartwatch shipments take second place globally as we wait for new Fitbit watches

What do you want to know

• The latest smartwatch market share trends were released for the first quarter of 2022, with a 13% increase in annual smartwatch sales.
• Samsung held on to second place, with a 16% year-over-year increase.
• Xiaomi continues to break records every quarter, breaking into the top 4 for the first time.
• Fitbir continued to fall for several quarters while waiting for new Sense or Versa smartwatches.

Smartwatch sales continue to grow, according to the latest market share figures from Counterpoint Research. However, this growth is occurring at a slower pace in the first quarter of 2022 as Fitbit wavers and Galaxy smartwatches maintain a lead over most other OEMs besides Apple.

Counterpoint’s latest report shows that, although not hitting the all-time high of the fourth quarter, the smartwatch market as a whole grew 13% year-over-year, with wearables becoming increasingly popular. Leading, of course, is Apple, which rose slightly to 36%. Less closely follow Samsung with 10% market share and Huawei with 7.2%.

Samsung has managed to maintain second place since the third quarter of 2022 after the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4, posting a 46% year-on-year growth in shipments. It’s also boosted Wear OS’s market share, which will no doubt be helped by the launch of new devices and updates later this year. However, Xiaomi could threaten to overtake Samsung, having entered the top 4 for the first time and “breaking its shipment record every quarter”.“

Garmin and Huami’s Amazfit have managed to maintain a market share of between 4% and 5%, while Fitbit is considerably weak at 2.7% share. This is likely due to the lack of a traditional smartwatch successor, with the Google-owned company focusing on its fitness trackers instead. We’re expecting Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4 to finally launch this year, but they’ll likely arrive without Wear OS.

The biggest smartwatch launches aren’t expected until the third quarter of this year, including the next Apple Watch and successors to some of the best Android smartwatches. Google has already teased its own Pixel Watch alongside a host of Wear OS partners expected to launch devices later this year, which should help give both Wear OS and smartphone sales a good boost.