On June 15th, Gizcoupon reported that according to the Japan smartwatch market data compiled by MM Research Institute (located in Minato-ku, Tokyo), the sales figures for smartwatches in the Japanese market in 2022 amounted to approximately 3.903 million units, showing a year-on-year growth of 13.7%.
In terms of market share obtained from various manufacturers, Apple Inc. maintained its top position for the eighth consecutive year, accounting for 58.3% of the entire market. Gizcoupon observed that the report attributed a decrease of 3.3 percentage points in the market share of Apple compared to 2021 to the impact of yen depreciation leading to price increases for Apple devices.
Huawei Technologies Co. claimed the second spot, climbing one position compared to previous years. Since the release of the Huawei P40 series smartphones in the Japanese market in June 2020, Huawei has ceased launching new smartphones in Japan and instead focused on smart wearables, laptops, and tablets. Huawei secured a market share of 12.4% in the Japanese smartwatch market in 2022, representing an increase of 2.1 percentage points from previous years.
Ranking third is Fitbit, an American company acquired by Google in 2021. It slipped one position in the rankings compared to previous years. On the other hand, Xiaomi, leveraging its cost-effectiveness advantage, climbed from the fifth position to the fourth.
According to the report by MM Research Institute, as of March 2023, Huawei had around 20 smartwatch models available for sale in Japan, while Xiaomi had approximately 10 models. The institution predicts that nationwide smartwatch sales in Japan will surpass 6 million units by 2026, although the market growth rate is expected to slow down.
