Fitbit Is The Top Wearables Vendor And Is Outpacing Competitors

Earlier this week, market research firm IDC published a report on the worldwide wearable device market, which saw fourth-quarter shipments rise to 27.4 million units, up 126.9 percent year-over-year, and full year shipment surge to 78.1 million units, up 171.6 percent in relation to 2014.

While it is true that the Apple Inc. AAPL's Apple Watch was among the largest drivers of the aforementioned growth, analysts considered the sales figures quite disappointing – even though the company stood as the largest smartwatch vendor and the second-largest wearable devices vendor.

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In fact, Apple saw its sales increase only 5 percent quarter-over-quarter in the fourth quarter; meanwhile, Fitbit Inc FIT saw shipment rise by more than 70 percent over the period, Statista Data Journalist Felix Richter assured.

Moreover, Fitbit dominated the wearables space, having shipped roughly 8.1 million units in the fourth quarter, amassing a 29.5 percent market share. Apple came in second, with a 15 percent market share. It was Xiaomi, however, that surprised the most, posting a 258.5 percent year-over-year growth in shipments; its 2.7 million units shipped in the fourth quarter helped it concentrate almost 10 percent of the market share.

Other big players were SAMSUNG ELECTRONIC KRW5000 SSNLF and Garmin Ltd. GRMN, with respective market shares of 4.9 percent and 3.5 percent. For the full year, market shares were pretty similar: 26.9 percent for Fitbit, 15.4 percent for Xiaomi, 14.9 percent for Apple, 4.2 percent for Garmin and 4 percent for Samsung.

The chart below shows worldwide wearable device shipments by the top five vendors in 2015.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.