Greater adoption of Wear OS and HarmonyOS this year

• First-time smartwatch users or upgraders in the Android camp are now looking for a much better user experience and are willing to spend more when going for their next purchase.
• HarmonyOS’ shipment share in China is further estimated to reach 61% in China in 2024, up from 48% in 2023.
• Share of Google Wear OS outside of China will climb to 27% in 2024.

Google’s Wear OS and Huawei’s HarmonyOS to register strong growth in global smartwatch market operating system in 2024.

The major part of this growth will come from non-Apple smartphone users adopting either a Google Wear OS-based smartwatch if outside China or HarmonyOS-based smartwatch if in China.

According to Counterpoint Research, the Google Wear OS share outside China will climb to 27 per cent in 2024. The growth will be primarily driven by the availability of more advanced smartwatches powered by Wear OS, like the latest adoption by GooglePixel and OnePlus Watch 2, along with the refreshed Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series.

Limited mainstream options

 “Just as in the case of smartphones, where there is a shift toward premium devices in consumer buying patterns, we are witnessing that first-time smartwatch users or upgraders in the Android camp are now looking for a much better user experience and are willing to spend more when going for their next purchase,” Anshika Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said.

She expects to see greater adoption of Wear OS since these devices provide a robust third-party app experience, Google AI assistant, and precise health tracking, customisation and battery optimisation.

Until now, she said that most of the Wear OS adoption was driven by Samsung smartwatches, and there were limited mainstream options for Android smartphone users.

However, starting this year, “we are seeing Google and Qualcomm managing to attract their leading smartphone customers such as OnePlus, OPPO and Xiaomi to launch Wear OS-based smartwatches outside China at attractive high-tier price points. Further, Google’s own Pixel watches will also continue to contribute to the Wear OS adoption globally.”

In addition to Wear OS, she said that they are witnessing the growth of Harmony powered by the increasing popularity of Huawei smartwatches in China.

Key catalyst

“In 2023, the overall HarmonyOS shipments grew almost twofold, surpassing Apple’s WatchOS. HarmonyOS’ shipment share is further estimated to reach 61 per cent in China in 2024, up from 48 per cent in 2023. The launch of 5G phones by Huawei last year and the resulting growth have acted as a key catalyst in driving the attach rate for Huawei smartwatches and expanding China’s advanced smartwatch market,” Ethan Qi, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research, said.

In terms of smartwatch chipsets, Apple and Samsung currently hold two-thirds of the advanced smartwatch market. Hengxuan and Qualcomm are expected to witness double-digit growth in 2024.

Qualcomm’s market will be driven by more launches on its W5+ Gen 1 and W5100 processors, while Hengxuan’s growth will be mainly driven by the adoption of Huawei and Xiaomi smartwatches in China.

 “According to our smartwatch display panel shipments tracker, the advanced smartwatch, which mostly sports cutting-edge OLED and MicroLED displays, is bound to see an increase in orders for suppliers in the 16 per cent-18 per cent range in 2024 due to strong momentum after the second half of 2023 and the blended OLED panel pricing declining by 3 per cent in addition to larger display sizes,” Counterpoint company DSCC’s Senior Director David Naranjo said.