For a while now Apple has been the undisputed leader in smartwatches and true wireless earbuds. And if the recent numbers by Counterpoint Research are an indicator then the Cupertino-based tech giant is in no mood to relinquish its throne. According to the latest report by Counterpoint, Apple was the market leader in wearables and hearables in Q4 2020 with a 36.2% market share.
The Watch numbers increased by 45.6% and Counterpoint says that it is “thanks to the appeal of three models with different price points (Series 6, Watch SE, Series 3).”
Xiaomi, at the end of the quarter, ended up in the second position as it grew 5% year-over-year. The Mi Band lineup, which is quite popular, saw its shipments decline by 18.3% in the quarter. However, its audio products — wireless earbuds — saw a 55.5% growth.
According to Counterpoint, Samsung was at the third spot and its low-cost wristbands increased the company’s shipments.

Huawei’s struggles continue as it slipped to the fourth position in the market. Its shipments declined in almost every market except China and Japan.
Surprisingly, it was the Indian brand Boat that was in the fifth spot as it shipped 5.4 million units in Q4 2020. What makes it even more surprising is that Boat sells solely in India and almost exclusively focuses on the hearables segment.
Not many takers for smart wristbands
According to Counterpoint, growth has not been even across the wearables market as some companies and products were affected by the global semiconductor shortage. Wristbands share declined by 17.8% and accounted for just 11.5% of all wearable devices shipped.
The true wireless earbuds were the largest category of devices with a 64.2% share of shipments, followed by watches with 24.1% share.
“2020 was the year that hearables became the must-have device,” said Ramon T. Llamas, research director for IDC’s Wearables Team. “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,” Llamas added.