Canalys’ latest research reveals that the global wearable band market grew 3% year on year in Q3 2024 to 52.9 million units. Shipments of all three device categories – basic bands, basic watches and smartwatches – grew annually. This is where the report from Canalys goes off the rails. They've made one chart that has Xiaomi's bands ($7 to $130) in the same chart with Apple's high-end Apple Watch. That's like putting a tricycle in with a Harley Davidson for bikes. It's a marketing Coop for Xiaomi, but it's distorted reality no matter how you look at it.

The only chart worthy of mentioning in the Canalys report is their "Value" chart shown below where Canalys states that "Apple continues to dominate Shipment Value." Yes, and Xiaomi which is positioned as being "tied with Apple" in volume, only delivered 4% of shipment value. That's the reality. Xiaomi is a nobody in the wearables market with bottom basement 4% value share versus the real champ in wearables, Apple,  delivering 40% of total value.  

Considering that Apple is being lumped in with toys and low-end devices, the actual market share for Apple is likely higher than posted.