IDC: Wearables market grew 10.3% in Q2, Xiaomi maintains its lead

According to the report by IDC, worldwide wearables market was once again graced with positive growth as shipments grew 10.3 percent year over year, reaching 26.3 million during the second quarter of 2017 (2Q17).

"The transition towards more intelligent and feature-filled wearables is in full swing," said Jitesh Ubrani senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers.

Ubrani added, "For years, rudimentary fitness trackers have acted as a gateway to smart watches and now we're at a point where brands and consumers are graduating to a more sophisticated device. Previous niche features such as GPS and additional health tracking capabilities are quickly becoming staples of the modern smartwatch. Just a year ago only 24.5 percent of all wearables had embedded GPS while today that number has reached almost 41.7 percent.

"Equally important to devise features will be the algorithms tracking workouts and providing health insights," Ubrani further said. Adding to that, "There is growing interest from the medical industry to adopt wearables and consumer expectations are also on the rise. This is where companies like Apple and Fitbit have the potential to maintain their lead as their investments in the tracking and perhaps diagnosing of diseases will be a clear differentiator from low-cost rivals."

The report said that Xiaomi maintained its lead in the second quarter as the company's expertise in driving low-cost devices remained unmatched. Though the Mi Band lineup was the most popular, Apple's growth continued to outpace the market as the Series 1 and Series 2 are now mature products with the clear and concise purpose of fitness.

Meanwhile, Apple finds itself in a period of transition. Early leaks and the recent official announcement of the Fitbit Ionic will help cement the company's place in the growing smartwatch market.

However, Garmin's decline of 6.6 percent from last year should not necessarily be seen in a negative view as the company has managed to grow revenue. And finally, Fossil also entered the top 5 for the first time and much of this is credited to the acquisition of Misfit in late 2015.