Xiaomi releases trio of new smartphones in Mi 11 series
Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11i, and Mi 11 Lite 5G among the devices
Manufacturers - Saf Malik
March 31, 2021
The most popular of which during 2020 were the ‘hearable’ devices
Global sales of wearables grew 28.4 per cent year-on-year in 2020, following a strong final quarter.
According to the figures from IDC, 444.7 million units were shipped during the year, with growth attributed to consumers increasing their leisure activities during the pandemic.
The market was dominated by Apple, with the vendor reaching shipments of 151.4 million units through growth of 35.9 per cent year-on-year.
This was well ahead of the second-highest player, Xiaomi, with 50.7 million units, and Huawei with 43.5 million.
Apple took just over a third of market share (34.1pc) for the year, as sales of the Apple Watch rose 45.6 per cent in 2020.
Hearables growth
However, most growth in wearables during the final quarter came from hearables, with these products accounting for 64.2 per cent share of shipments, followed by watches on 24.1 per cent.
“2020 was the year that hearables became the must-have device,” said IDC research director for wearables Ramon Llamas.
“Hearables provided a new degree of privacy, particularly during home quarantine but also while out in public. Meeting that demand was a long list of vendors with an equally long list of devices, spanning the range of feature sets and price points.”
Sales of wristbands, however, dropped 17.8 per cent in Q4 last year, accounting for just 11.5 per cent of wearables shipped during the quarter.
IDC research manager for mobile trackers Jitesh Ubrani added: “While the shift in spending along with new products and typical seasonality were at play during the fourth quarter, the pandemic has also been good for
