Apple Watch continues to dominate as AirPods sales go ‘flat’, here’s why – Times of India

The wearables market is on a decline

As per IDC, there are multiple reasons behind the decline. Demand has slowed due to rising inflation, fears surrounding recession, increased spending on other non-tech categories, are some of them. Not to forget the hyper growth that the wearables market has experienced in the last two years was always going to be tough to sustain, said IDC. Global shipments declined 6.9% year over year to 107.4 million units, as per IDC.
Rising prices and cooling demand have also led to a reduction in the overall outlook for wearables as IDC now forecasts shipments for the full year of 2022 to remain flat at 535.5 million units. However, according to IDC, growth will return in 2023 as demand for watches and hearables is expected to return due to new buyers in emerging markets and replacements in mature markets.

Apple Watch still number one, AirPods ‘flat’

As per IDC’s estimates, Apple has grown 6.6% year over year and that’s mainly due to the “performance of Apple Watches”. As per IDC, the Apple Watch SE has been doing really well with over 2 million units shipped and that is something “for a device that is more than one and half years old.” IDC didn’t reveal the shipment numbers for AirPods but did mention that “shipments of AirPods were flat during the quarter as the company faced more competition from low-cost products.” This isn’t a surprise as there are way too many options for consumers and AirPods’ price point perhaps has become a deterrent for many.Smaller brands continue to target lower price points, putting downward pressure on average selling prices (ASPs) for the incumbents., said IDC.
Still, Apple remains the market leader as it had about 30.5% market share with 32.1 million shipments in Q2, 2022. Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Imagine Marketing (Boat’s parent company) are the top five players globally and, as per IDC, four of the top 5 experienced year-over-year declines during the second quarter.