Fitbit retains the number one position in the global wearable device market, but is under stiff competition from Chinese-based firm Xiaomi, according to the latest numbers from IDC.

The figures represent a stark closing in on Fitbit’s market dominance. The San Francisco-based company punts out 34.2% of the 11.4 million wearables shipped in the first quarter of 2015, compared with Xiaomi’s 2.8 million (24.6%).

Xiaomi’s first wearable device was announced in July 2014, which naturally represents a big fat zero in the Q114 columns. Yet even though all its competitors have lost market share in the year between Q114 and Q115, numbers of shipments for each of the top five players have gone up by at least 100%.

Garmin dropped from 7.9% share to 6.1%, although increased its number of shipments from 0.3m to 0.7m, while it was a similar story for Samsung (0.3m to 0.6m, 7.9% share to 5.3%) and Jawbone (0.2m to 0.5m, 5.3% share to 4.4%). The overall number of wearable devices shipped rose 200% year over year.

There is one major elephant in the room, of course – the Apple Watch, officially launched back in March. IDC wearables research manager Ramon Llamas is keeping his – and IDC’s cards – close to his chest on how those shipments will play out. “What remains to be seen is how Apple’s arrival will change the landscape,” he said. “The Apple Watch will likely become the device that other wearables will be measured against, fairly or not. This will force the competition to up their game in order to stay on the leading edge of the market.”

Llamas added: “Bucking the post-holiday decline normally associated with the first quarter is a strong sign for the wearables market. It demonstrates growing end-user interest and the vendors’ ability to deliver a diversity of devices and experiences.”

The figures from IDC only include branded sales and don't count OEMs. A visual representation of the data can be seen below:

  iCharts  

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