Federica Laricchia
Research expert covering the global consumer technology industry
Get in touch with us nowApple overtook Fitbit and has led the wearable market ever since
Fitbit, a company that had long been the leader in the wearables industry in terms of unit shipments, lost its top position to Apple back in 2017 and was acquired by Google in 2021. Apple has been the industry leader in the wearables segment ever since, with almost 14 billion euros in revenue coming from the wearable segment in early 2023. The industry is also awaiting new wearable device releases from Samsung in the coming years, with the company being one of the largest owners of wearables patents. One of the other most notable players targeting budget-conscious consumers in the smartwatch market is Xiaomi.New competitors on the horizon
Apple is undoubtedly the brightest star in the soaring smartwatch industry, positioned as the leading smartwatch vendor, holding around one third of the market in 2022. Although Google entered the smartwatch market late with a product of its own, the Google Pixel Watch, it has still managed to establish itself as a significant player within the industry thanks to the success of the Android mobile operating system and Wear OS. With the acquisition of Fitbit and future Samsung watches carrying Wear OS, Google is likely to acquire a greater share of the smartwatch market in the near future. .
