Huawei Leads Wearables as Consumers Split Between Simple Trackers and Advanced Watches

Omdia’s second-quarter 2026 data paints a divided picture of the wearable-band market. Overall shipments declined 2% year over year, but Huawei increased its share to 18% and took the top position across the combined category. At the same time, consumers showed stronger interest in advanced sports watches and newer screenless trackers than in conventional entry-level devices.

Huawei takes the overall wearable lead

Huawei held 18% of global wearable-band shipments in Q2 2026, compared with 17% in Q2 2025. That gain came during a quarter in which the overall market contracted, making Huawei’s higher share more significant than a simple ranking change.

Omdia-linked reporting attributes the result in part to Huawei’s expanding product portfolio, including the global launch of a flagship children’s smartwatch. A broader range of products can give a vendor more opportunities across price points, use cases, and markets, although the available data does not quantify how much each product contributed.

The market declined, but demand did not move uniformly

The 2% overall decline masks sharply different results by device type:

• Smartwatches: Shipments increased 6%, supported by demand for advanced sports-focused models.
• Basic bands: Shipments fell 9% as the broader fitness-tracker category weakened.
• Basic watches: Shipments declined 3%, with a slowdown in India contributing to weaker momentum in low-cost devices.

The pattern suggests that consumers are not simply abandoning wearables. Instead, demand is concentrating at two ends of the market: feature-rich devices for sports and health use cases, and minimalist products that provide tracking without a conventional screen. Omdia said screenless basic bands continued to gain traction even as the broader basic-band category declined.

In one indication of that shift, screenless devices accounted for more than 15% of basic-band shipments in the quarter, according to reporting on Omdia’s data.

Apple still dominates smartwatches

Huawei’s overall lead does not translate into leadership in the smartwatch segment. Apple remained the clear smartwatch leader, accounting for 46% of global smartwatch shipments in Q2 2026. That was still close to half the category, though down from 48% a year earlier.

The change matters because it shows that a strong category-wide position and segment leadership are different things. Huawei’s 18% share covers the broader wearable-band market, including bands and watches, while Apple’s 46% figure refers specifically to smartwatches.

What the data means

The Q2 results point to a market becoming more selective rather than uniformly weaker. Basic products face pressure from slower low-cost demand and changing product cycles, while premium sports watches continue to attract buyers seeking deeper fitness features. Screenless trackers represent a different kind of appeal: less visual distraction and a simpler wearable experience.

For Huawei, the result highlights the value of maintaining a wide product lineup. Its overall lead was supported by portfolio expansion, including a globally launched children’s smartwatch, while the category itself moved toward more differentiated products. For Apple, the data shows that its smartwatch franchise remains dominant, even with a two-point share decline from the previous year.

The clearest takeaway is that the wearable market’s headline decline tells only part of the story. The stronger signal is the split in demand: consumers are moving either toward more capable sports-focused smartwatches or toward deliberately simpler screenless devices, leaving traditional basic products under the most pressure.