Apple is setting records, but Huawei still has the upper hand

What time is it? It's probably time to elaborate on smartwatches, that's right. The global smartwatch market just hit a small (but interesting) speed bump. Shipments fell 4% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, according to Counterpoint Research, marking the first decline in a year.

And while Apple is growing like mad, Huawei still has the upper hand.

Are we done with smartwatches?

Absolutely not. In fact—and this is anecdotal evidence, but still—I see way more people with smartwatches today than, say, two years ago.

So people haven't suddenly stopped wanting smartwatches. Instead, it looks increasingly like the market is running into a simple problem: there aren't enough reasons to replace the watch you already have. That's what the latest Counterpoint Research report has to say about it all.

Basic vs premium

The basic smartwatch segment is shrinking because cheaper models don't offer enough meaningful monitoring upgrades to convince owners to buy another one. Meanwhile, people buying more expensive watches are also waiting longer, partly because they know new models are around the corner. It's a fine line.

It's a bit of a paradox; the smartwatch market needs people to upgrade regularly, but the products themselves are becoming good enough that owners don't necessarily feel compelled to do so.

Apple's numbers, Huawei's lead

Apple provides an interesting example. It recorded the fastest year-over-year growth among the top five brands in Q2, with shipments increasing across every region. More than 80% of Apple's shipments came from the Watch Series 11 and Watch SE 3, showing that its refreshed lineup is doing most of the heavy lifting.

Huawei, meanwhile, led global shipments, and there's a striking number behind that result: around 80% of Huawei's global smartwatch shipments came from China. That's an enormous dependence on one market, but China itself is becoming increasingly important to the entire smartwatch industry.

Chinese consumers accounted for 38% of global smartwatch shipments in Q2 – the country's highest share ever. Put another way, roughly four out of every ten smartwatches shipped globally went to China. China's own market also grew 7% year over year, helped by strong demand for domestic brands such as Huawei and government-backed consumer subsidies.

Apple's growth in China is notable too, particularly because it is recovering from a decline in the same quarter last year.

The bigger picture

Counterpoint expects the global smartwatch market to grow only around 1% for the whole of 2026. That's a pretty modest number for a category that once seemed destined to become the next indispensable gadget.

There is still a potential escape route. More advanced on-device AI, blood-pressure monitoring and eventually reliable non-invasive blood-glucose tracking could give owners a genuine reason to upgrade.

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