• by Chuck Martin , March 1, 2018

Fueled by a surge in smartwatch shipments, the worldwide wearables market grew 8% last quarter, according to the latest worldwide quarterly wearable device tracker by the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Total volume reached 38 million units, an increase from 35 million devices shipped in the same quarter a year earlier.

For all of 2017, total wearable device shipments reached 115 million units, an increase of 10% from the 105 million units shipped in 2016, according to IDC.

"The 10% year-over-year growth in 2017 is a marked decline from the 27% growth we saw in 2016," stated Ramon T. Llamas, research director for IDC's wearables team. "The slowdown is not due to a lack of interest. We saw numerous vendors, relying on older models, exit the market. The remaining vendors, including multiple start-ups, have not only replaced them, but with devices, features and services that have helped make wearables more integral in people's lives. The next generation of wearables will make the ones we saw as recently as 2016 look quaint."

This is the first quarter that Apple leads the wearables market after spending several quarters behind Fitbit or Xiaomi of China. Fitbit and Garmin both rely heavily on fitness trackers. Market share for the last quarter: Apple (21%), Fitbit (14%), Xiaomi (13%), Garmin (7%) and Huawei (4%).