Apple loses its "throne" in the smartwatch market for the first time

(Dan Tri) - Apple is considered the pioneer and initiator of the smart watch market and will always lead this market until the end of the second quarter of 2025.

In April 2015, Apple officially introduced the first Apple Watch, opening a new era for the smart watch product line. Immediately after that, a series of technology giants such as Samsung, Huawei, Google and Xiaomi also quickly joined this race.

Over the past decade, despite the increasingly vibrant smartwatch market with many different brands and segments, Apple has maintained its leading position, as Apple Watch sales have always surpassed its competitors.

Huawei's smartwatch sales increased sharply in the second quarter of 2025, helping the company win the "throne" in the smartwatch market (Photo: Hodinky).

However, the second quarter of 2025 figures show that Apple has lost its leading position, and Huawei is the company that has surpassed to take the "throne" in the smartwatch market.

According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, global smartwatch sales increased by 8% in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.

Among them, Huawei is the company with the most "explosive" smartwatch sales in the 3 months of the second quarter of 2025, when sales increased by 52% compared to the same period last year. This helped Huawei capture 21% of the global market share, an increase of 6% compared to the second quarter of 2024, and at the same time surpass Apple to become the largest smartwatch company in the world .

According to Counterpoint Research, Huawei's smartwatch sales have seen strong growth in the domestic market and steady sales growth in some neighboring markets, especially in Japan.

Since Huawei appointed actor Takuya Kimura as its brand ambassador in Japan in April, Huawei's smartwatches have become popular among middle-aged and elderly consumers in the country, Nikkei news agency reported.

The number of customers aged 40 to 70 in Japan choosing to buy Huawei smartwatches has increased significantly. Many elderly Japanese people have chosen Huawei as their first smartwatch, mainly focusing on health monitoring features such as measuring heart rate, blood pressure, etc.

On the other hand, Apple’s sales fell 3% in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year. Apple now holds 17% of the market share, down from 19% a year ago and ranked second in the smartwatch market.

The two Chinese tech companies ranked third and fourth in the smartwatch market, Xiaomi and imoo, with market shares of 9% and 7%, respectively. These two tech companies also had sales growth of 38% and 21% in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.

Samsung is in the same situation as Apple, with sales in the second quarter of 2025 falling 3% compared to the same period last year, causing its market share to drop from 7% to 6%. However, Samsung is still in the top 5 largest smartwatch manufacturers in the world.

Counterpoint Research found that China overtook North America for the first time in the second quarter of 2025 to become the world's largest smartwatch market, driven by strong sales of domestic smartwatch models in China.

“Chinese smartwatch brands are leading in terms of scale, number of features and affordability compared to global competitors,” said a Counterpoint Research representative.

The market research firm also predicts the smartwatch market will recover in 2025, with sales growth reaching 7% compared to 2024.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/apple-lan-dau-mat-ngoi-vuong-tren-thi-truong-smartwatch-20251016014609826.htm