Wearable Band Sales See 150 Percent Boost In Just 12 Months

Sales of wearable smart bands have hit a new high as more and more consumers splash out on the devices, new figures have revealed.

Data from analyst firm Canalys found that sales of wearable bands rose 150 percent throughout the last year, with this growth set to continue following the launch of the Apple Watch last month.

The figures include seven million sales in Q1 2015 alone, according to data taken from Canalys’ Wearable Technology Analysis service.

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Fitbit took first place in terms of most units shipped, helped by strong sales of its Surge band (pictured left) followed by Chinese up-and-comer Xiaomi,  which saw greatly increased shipments of the affordable Mi Band, predominantly in China, with Garmin taking third place thanks to two new products in its vívo line.

These may all soon be swamped by sales of the Apple Watch, however, which seems set to dominate the wearables market in 2015, with Canalys forecasting sales of 20 million in 2015.

“Despite the Apple Watch requiring an iPhone, Apple’s impending entrance in Q2 had a negative impact on vendors such as Samsung. Discounting has been used to clear inventory in the channel,” said VP and Principal Analyst Chris Jones. “The Apple Watch has set the benchmark for other smart watches and will make up the majority of shipments this year.”

The industry consensus seems to agree that the wearables market will continue to grow throughout 2015 as more and more of us look to the devices.

Figures released by IDC earlier this year estimated that 45.7m wearable devices will be sold this year, up 133.4 percent from last year’s figure, as the release of the Apple Watch and other devices push up sales.

The rise is only set to continue over the next few years, with IDC estimating 126.1m units will be sold in 2019.

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