Smartwatch Industry Faces First-Ever Decline

• The smartwatch sales stood at 7% on the higher side last year, with Apple’s shipment being dropped by 19% due to rather minimal upgrades and other ready-to-go legal issues, but then the Chinese brands, namely Xiaomi and Huawei, stole a bit of Apple’s market share.
• The near future of smartwatches is all pointed to AI-driven health tracking. Companies are all concerned about the best and latest medical features, high-end features, and affordability to take some easy steps to reach a slow recovery in 2025.

This is the first year in the long history of global smartwatch sales to witness a sales dip. A 7% fall in smartwatch shipments was reported for 2024 as compared to 2023, according to Counterpoint Research. The main factor? Apple’s embarrassment. Their tech titan’s smartwatch sales were cut back by a towering 19%, leaving room for fast growers like Xiaomi and Huawei to edge in.

Only the Apple Bits of Watch Sales Degenerating

Apple has ruled the smartwatch world for years, but 2024 has simply seen a retreating period for America’s crown corporation. Yes, one still holds a considerable share in the market; however, this portion is shrinking badly; it has gone from 25% in December 2023 to dismally trailing 22% as seen by the close of 2024.

So What Went Wrong?

• No fancy developments and nothing was revolutionary from the Apple Watch Series Ultra 3—which didn’t turn up, letting many Apple users assume that with no major new offerings, why sto hake up the watch business? This prompted them to just retain whatever Apple Watch they had.
• Legal Issues: Apple was stymied from selling and importing Apple Watches in the US by an injunction issued there as part of a patent dispute over some aspect of their SpO2 monitoring feature. So it was a further backfire and delay for them.
• Backdown of North America—The United States has always been a primary concern for Apple, but many Americans would just not buy them, despite the remarkable attempts Apple had made if that meant minor updates. Either they retained their existing smartwatches or went for the cheaper alternatives.

China’s Smartwatch Revolution: The New Market Leader

When Apple turned to illogical tactics, the Chinese were already making their move upward. For the first time, in China, smartwatches became observers of the demand departures for which India and North America have made headlines. The global sales share of China’s smartphones increased from 19% to 25% due to its successes with such brands as Xiaomi, Huawei, and Imoo.

Much of this has to do with a surprising trend, that is, children’s smartwatches. It is a rather peculiar concept. Parents are more inclined toward smartwatches for their children and are looking at functions such as GPS tracking and easy communication. The brands of Imoo, which were otherwise known in China as “Little Genius,” saw sales growth at 22%, lower yet by far the best Xiaomi score of an astonishing 135%, accompanied by band-like activity trackers much cheaper than the Apple and Samsung models—by far a comeback explosion, most notably within Eastern Europe and Southern Europe, whose purchase decisions often mostly hinge on price.

Samsung and Xiaomi: The Silver Linings

Not everything went bad in 2024 for the brands. Samsung did record positive growth of 3%, owing primarily to its Galaxy Watch 7 and the new Ultra Galaxy Watch. Meanwhile, Xiaomi came into the top five global smartwatch brands for the first time in history. It actually has great choice watches like the Redmi Watch and Watch S1 and has performed disproportionately well in Europe; cheapness was a major factor in the positive response.

What Comes Before the Smart Watches?

Despite 2024 being so gruelling, the smartwatch market has not dried up completely. The expert opinion is that the business will slowly mend in 2025, clocking AI-driven features and more advanced health monitoring.

What Does the Future Look Like?

• Many more medical-grade health offerings, including but not limited to sleep apnoea diagnosis, blood pressure measurement, and, possibly, some diagnoses for early diabetes.
• AI-assisted life app insights to help users better manage their health and fitness.
• Perhaps even more of a push for threshold-based regulatory approvals to tighten up reliability and trust in those health-tracking devices.

Apple, Samsung, and Huawei are almost definite frontrunners that will continue fighting over market share at the apex, but low-cost competitors such as Xiaomi are getting in the game—being able to turn relations with a few bucks into lots by rendering relatively good hardware rich with intelligent details.

Some real, raw thoughts: Smartwatches, alongside other grim AI tie-ins like health tracking, might have left the second wave of innovation in 2025.