The global sales of smart watches fell for the first time, largely indicating new figures due to the rapid decline of the popularity of the Apple market leader.

The control of the market research says that 7% of the smaller devices were delivered in 2024 compared to the year before.

Apple watch shipments have fallen for 19% during this period, says Counterpoint.

It blames the fall over the lack of new features on Apple’s latest devices, and the fact that the high-end Ultra 3 rumor has never been achieved.

“The biggest driver of the fall was North America, where the absence of Ultra 3 and the minimum feature upgrade in the S10 line led consumers to keep shopping,” he said Counterpoint Senior analyst of Anshika Jain research.

Apple was also affected by a ban on sales and imports in the United States at the end of 2023 and early 2024 through A controversial patent As for the monitoring level of oxygen in the blood – which Mrs. Jain says she also contributed to the lower sales data in the first half of 2024.

He has retained 22% of the market share in the last three months of 2024, which is a drop of 25% year earlier.

“We have gone through a period where the smart clock has crossed from a new and exciting gadget, to something that is now stabilizing – a set of features does not change very dramatically from year to year,” said Leo Gebbie, the main analyst from CCS Insight.

Despite the overall fall, last year there was a huge increase in sales for the smart classes of Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Huawei and Imoo.

Sales in China also rose from 19% of the market to 25% in the year in the last quarter of 2023.

This is the first time he has recorded multiple sales of smart watches than India or North America, Counterpoint states.

Chinese manufacturers seemed to have used another trend – growing popularity of smart watches for children, the only market segment that was growing in 2024.

IMOO, known in China as a “little genius”, specializes in children’s smart watches and recorded a 22% rise in shipments.

“The children’s segment of smart watches gets attractive because parents are worried about the safety of their children and they want to follow and remain constantly connected with their children,” said Balbir Singh Counterpoint.

But Imoo eclipse of 135% of the rise in shipments from the Xiaomi technological company based in Beijing.

His smart band seekers are sold for a fraction of the prices of rivals made by Apple and Samsung.

“We see the big consumer players like Apple and Samsung really just try to drive a much bigger margin, not to get involved in the war price,” said Mr. Gebbie.

“Xiaomi has done a really good job of selling a device, especially in regions such as southern and Eastern Europe, where this greater accessibility tends to echo a lot more strongly with customers.”

Another big contribution to the global sales fall was India, which fell from 30% of the market to 23%.

He said this was partly because of the “bubble” in the ultra -cheap devices of Indian manufacturers who have now broken.

“We read and saw a lot in terms of complaints about the quality of the device, and people are not happy with them,” he said.

“There is a feeling for these companies that from this moment they would better serve them perhaps by making and selling products with a slightly longer life.”

Counterpoint says it expects a small recovery in the global market, with a “single -digit percentage of percentage in 2025”.

It predicts that the rise in sales will be led by increasing acceptance of AI features and greater emphasis on providing a wider spectrum of health data.