The Huawei Watch Ultimate. (Image source: Huawei)
The global smartwatch space has seen some growth in 2025, whereas it did not in 2024. Some individual brands such as Xiaomi have benefitted from the change, but none so much as Huawei. According to the latest stats, the company has relegated Apple to second place in the market for the first time. The fact that North America is no longer the strongest region for the products might have something to do with that.
The number of smartwatches shipped worldwide changed by +8% in the second quarter of 2025 (2Q2025), as opposed to the negative figures of the preceding 5 quarters.
The amount of the advanced wearables shipped by Huawei grew by no less than 52% compared to 2Q2024, while Apple’s share dropped by 3% year-on-year.
Samsung’s shipments of its Galaxy Watches also declined by 3% while those of Xiaomi’s Watches grew by 38%, although the former managed to stay in the top 5 worldwide in terms of market share.
Huawei’s share grew to an unprecedented 21%, allowing it to dethrone Apple (at 17%) for the first time in its history as a smartwatch OEM.
China also rose to #1 in terms of shipments and market share per region for the first time in 2Q2025, possibly reflecting an increased demand for smartwatches of between $100 and $400 in price, according to Counterpoint Research.
Huawei might be in line for more smartwatch success in 3Q2025 with the imminent launch of the Watch GT 6 – although Apple could hit right back with the Watch 10 series soon.
Counterpoint Research breaks the latest smartwatch market data down by brand…
…and by region. (Source: Counterpoint Research)
Deirdre O Donnell – Senior Tech Writer – 8635 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2018
I became a professional writer and editor shortly after graduation. My degrees are in biomedical sciences; however, they led to some experience in the biotech area, which convinced me of its potential to revolutionize our health, environment and lives in general. This developed into an all-consuming interest in more aspects of tech over time: I can never write enough on the latest electronics, gadgets and innovations. My other interests include imaging, astronomy, and streaming all the things. Oh, and coffee.