According to Counterpoint's forecast, the Chinese smart watch market will rebound in 2023.
In 2022, Apple was one of the few companies to develop its wearables business in China. They launched the Apple Watch Ultra, a smartwatch that helped pioneer a new segment of professional smartwatches.
However, due to special reasons, China's smart watch shipments in 2022 fell by 9.3% year-on-year. This caused the market to shrink to pre-pandemic levels, with only year-over-year growth in shipments in the first quarter of 2022.
During the same period, global smartwatch shipments increased by 12% year-on-year. According to Counterpoint's research, Huawei and Apple dominated China's smart watch industry in 2022, with their combined share rising to nearly 50%. Apple, OPPO and Huawei were the only top brands with year-over-year increases of 22%, 105% and 9%.
Despite the overall weak performance of China's smart watch market, Apple's Watch Series 7 model and the newly released Watch Series 8 and Ultra models are still selling hot, helping Apple achieve shipment growth in China. This is thanks to Apple's continuous innovation in health monitoring capabilities and excellent data and interactive experiences.
It is worth mentioning that Apple Watch Ultra has created a new segment of professional smart watches, which has also helped Apple dominate the high-end market
This year, an important trend in the smart watch market is the increase in high-end market share, especially high-end watches that exceed 1300 yuan. In the 2,000 yuan to 2,700 yuan segment, shipments increased by 46% year-on-year, while in the 2,700 yuan and above market, shipments increased by a staggering 1292% year-on-year.
According to senior analyst Ivan Lam, "This trend towards the high-end market is similar to the smartphone market in 2022. In recent years, marketing efforts by companies like Apple and Huawei have made high-end consumers recognize their smartwatches as professional devices with advanced sports and health monitoring capabilities.
According to Counterpoint's forecast, the Chinese smart watch market will rebound in 2023 due to the active promotion of OEM manufacturers and the reopening measures after unblocking. Due to the continued demand for more professional smartwatches, the average selling price in the market is also likely to rise.