As per a new report by Canalys, Apple shipped a whopping 108.9 million AirPods and Beats headphones in 2020. This was more than the combined number of audio products sold by Samsung, Xiaomi, Sony, and Edifier, which ranked number 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the top shipments after Apple.
Apple also dominated in Q4 2020 in terms of smartwatch shipments, however, 2020 saw Xiaomi as number 1 in terms of shipments, thanks to its range of watches and bands that reach more price points.
AirPods continued to sell like hot cakes in 2020
As per Canalys, true wireless headphones and smartwatches were popular companion devices in Q4 2020, reaching record-high numbers in sales. Smartwatches and bands sold 185 million units in total, while true wireless headphones sold 432 million units.
Apple saw year-over-year growth of almost 30% in 2020. Despite the pandemic year, Apple was able to beat out all competitors and completely dominate with 25.2% global market share. Samsung (including its Harman subsidiaries) ranked number 2, with 8.9% market share, and 38.3 million shipments. Xiaomi ranked number 3, with 25.4% shipments, 5.9% market share, and a healthy 82.8% year-over-year growth.
In Q4 2020, Apple had blockbuster sales, with 37.3 million shipments, and 26.5% market share. The shipments helped Apple achieve a 26.6% improvement in shipments over Q4 2019. Samsung and Xiaomi ranked number 2 and 3 respectively, with 11.4 and 8.0 million shipments respectively.
When it comes “wearable band” shipments, Xiaomi dominated 2020 with 37.7 million shipments, and 20.3% market share. Apple closed the lead considerably in 2020 by growing from 27.3 million shipments in 2019 to 35.2 million shipments in 2020.
Apple dominated Q4 2020 with 14.5 million Apple Watch shipments, compared to just 8.7 million shipments by Xiaomi. Infact, Xiaomi, Huawei, Fitbit saw decline in annual growth in Q4 2020, with Samsung seeing just 1% growth. Apple was the only one in the top 5 companies that saw positive annual growth in Q4 at 49.2%, which helped it close the year within close reach of Xiaomi’s overall 2020 shipment numbers.
Due to global supply constraints for components, Canalys forecasts that 2021 will see 15.6% growth in smart personal audio to hit 50 million units, and wearable bands will see 10.2% growth to reach 204 million unit shipments.
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