China’s trying to slim down, which will fatten the smartwatch market

Sales are already surging thanks to Beijing's subsidies and Trump's tariffs

China recently launched an initiative to reduce the incidence of obesity in the country, a move analyst firm IDC thinks will fatten the market for smartwatches and smart wristbands.

IDC on Tuesday shared data from its Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker that found 45.6 million wristy gadgets shipped in the first quarter of 2025, representing 10.5 percent year-on-year growth as smartwatch shipments grew by 4.8 percent to 34.8 million units and wristband shipments popped 34 percent to 10.8 million machines.

Growth was even stronger in China, where government subsidies designed to spur consumer spending helped fuel 37.6 percent annual shipment growth. Smartwatch shipments in the Middle Kingdom surged 25.3 percent to 11.4 million and wristbands rocketed by 67.9 percent to 6.2 million units.

IDC expects sales of wristy gadgets will continue to surge in China thanks in part to the “Healthy Weight Management Action” Beijing launched in April after warning that more than half of Chinese adults are currently overweight or obese, and that if current trends continue over 70 percent of the population could be overweight by 2030.

Chinese vendors Huawei and Xiaomi already top IDC’s global sales charts for wristy wearables, with 21.9 and 19 percent market share respectively – ahead of Apple’s 15 percent.

Cupertino clocked up 37.2 percent year-on-year shipment growth to score its best smartwatch growth since 2023. IDC thinks the Trump administration’s tariff plans helped by stimulating US retailers to buy more Apple Watches before prices rose, buyers in other reasons decided to get in before supply chain kinks impacted supply. China’s subsidies also helped Apple to sell more of its Watches.

Samsung was the only vendor to slide according to IDC, with Chinese players beating it on price and higher-end competitors like Apple and Garmin outdoing it in the midmarket and high end.

IDC thinks China’s national health drive and ongoing subsidies will drive its market to 58.5 million units, a year-on-year increase of 36.9 percent. By way of comparison, manufacturers shipped 45.6 million wristy wearables globally in Q1, so by the end of the year China will represent around a quarter of the global market for these gadgets. ®