Boom of wearable devices, they pull the earphones

Worldwide deliveries of wearable devices almost doubled during the third quarter, an increase of 94.6% on an annual basis, to a record 84.5 million units. To say it is the analysts of Idc, according to which to drive the "wearable" sector is the strong demand for wireless headsets and earphones, which represent almost half of the total deliveries. A third of the market is in the hands of Apple, which has tripled its deliveries.

From July to September, smart headphones and earphones reached 40.7 million units sold, an increase of 242.4% compared to 11.9 million in the third quarter of 2018.

"Earphones and headphones have become the new reference product for the wearable device market," notes researcher Ramon T. Llamas. The phenomenon began with smartphone manufacturers who removed the headphone jack, favoring the demand for wireless headphones, explains the analyst. Later the offer was enriched with more functional products and diversified forms. from the tiny "true wireless" earphones to the big "over-the-air" headphones.

In second place are the fitness bracelets (19.2 million units), followed by smartwatches (17.6 million). Among companies, Apple remains the queen thanks to the popularity of the Apple Watch, AirPods and Beats headphones.

The Cupertino company, with 29.5 million devices delivered, tripled volumes compared to 10 million in the third quarter of 2018, and now holds over a third of the market. Xiaomi is second with 12.4 million, and Samsung third at 8.3 million. Outside the podium Huawei (7.1 million, triple compared to 2.3 million a year ago) and Fitbit (3.5 million).