Apple led market growth in the earwear and smartwatch categories in the META regions comprised of the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa in Q3 2021, defying supply chain constraints. The company was followed by Samsung that held the second spot in terms of shipments.

The data comes from International Data Corporation (IDC) that further reported that in META, the wearables market saw a year-on-year growth rate of 2.0% in units and 25.4% in value in the third quarter of this year. A total of 3.09 million earwear, watches, wristbands, and glasses worth $504.6 million were sold across the region during the same timeframe.

The impressive figures come in at a time where the market is still struggling against the global semiconductor shortage. That’s not to say that the shortages didn’t have an effect though, as dwindling supply did lead to price increments levied by many vendors.

“Consumers tend to spend more of their disposal income on more compatible devices connected to their cellphones,” says Zeynep Kilic, a research manager at IDC. “The pandemic and lockdowns raised the demand for wearables for their health and fitness capabilities, and this is what spurred some vendors to invest in this field, such as Apple with its Fitness+ apps.”

Among all of the wearable shipments, TWS and over-ear audio devices grabbed the largest share of shipments in Q3 2021, accounting for 45.9% of all wearable devices shipped to the region. The YoY shipments increased of the category increased 34.4% in terms of units and 22.6% in value during the quarter. Apple led the sales with a third of the total market units, trailed by Samsung followed by Xiaomi. The work-from-home trend led to increased demand for wearables with support for ANC.

Earwear sales were followed by smartwatches that oversaw significant annual growth of 40.9% in units and 45.7% in value in Q3 2021. Apple again dominated the market mostly thanks to the new Series 7 lineup. Samsung took 2nd place with its Galaxy Watch 4 selling like hotcakes. Garmin ranked third.

The basic watch and fitness band category also saw strong year-on-year growth in Q3 2021, with shipments increasing 54.8% in unit terms and 44.2% in value. Such gadgets have grown to be a great budget alternative to their pricier smartwatch counterparts, and have lately begun offering more advanced features like SpO2 tracking. Huawei led this category, followed by Amazfit in second and Xiaomi in third.

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