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According to a new Counterpoint Research<\/a> report, global shipments of Edge AI-capable smartwatches grew 70% year over year in Q1 2026, with Apple accounting for roughly 90% of the total. Here are the details.<\/p>\n Apple comfortably leads the Edge AI smartwatch market<\/p>\n Edge AI generally refers to processing AI tasks locally on a device, rather than sending data to the cloud for processing.<\/p>\n As AI models become smaller and more efficient, and hardware is increasingly optimized to run them, companies have been bringing more AI-powered features directly to their devices.<\/p>\n For the Apple Watch<\/a>, this means using its built-in Neural Engine to process features such as gestures, Siri requests, and some health and safety signals directly on the watch (or, in some cases, the iPhone<\/a>), rather than sending all the underlying data to the cloud for processing.<\/p>\n According to a Counterpoint Research report<\/a> released today, when it comes to Edge AI-capable smartwatches, Apple is far ahead of the competition, accounting for roughly nine out of every ten units shipped in Q1 2026.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Counterpoint defined Edge AI smartwatches:<\/p>\n Edge AI smartwatches are wearable devices with a dedicated neural engine or NPU that runs machine learning inference partially or fully on-device. To qualify, at least one health, safety, or interaction feature must have its primary inference path executing locally on that accelerator.<\/p>\n Per the report, \u201cglobal Edge AI-capable smartwatch shipments grew by 70% YoY in Q1 2026, reaching a market penetration of 25%.\u201d This means that one out of every four smartwatches shipped during Q1 2026 was an Edge AI device.<\/p>\n Perhaps more impressive is Counterpoint\u2019s conclusion that \u201cApple solely account[ed] for ~90% of Edge AI smartwatch shipments in Q1 2026,\u201d during which period \u201cshipments of smartwatches with blood pressure monitoring doubled and those with sleep apnea detection tripled\u201d.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s Mohit Agrawal, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, on the report:<\/p>\n \u201cEdge AI in smartwatches is shifting from primarily a hardware integration to one that also includes software optimization. The real unlock is smaller, more efficient models and OS-level access that lets any app run inference locally. AI needs to turn from a single application into a personal layer that works on personal data. This enables instant health alerts, gesture control, and richer personalized experiences, and that is why Edge AI penetration is set to approach 32% in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, the report looked at the growing adoption of health features across smartwatches more broadly. Between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026, blood pressure monitoring rose from 11% to 23% of shipments, sleep apnea detection from 5% to 18%, and ECG from 31% to 34%.<\/p>\n To read Counterpoint\u2019s full report, follow this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n Worth checking out on Amazon<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/counterpoint-edge-ai-smartwatches.jpg\")
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