Fitbit continued to lead the worldwide wearables market in the fourth quarter of 2016, with Xiaomi and Apple making up the top three.
The total number of shipments for the quarter reached 33.9 million, an increase of 16.9% year-over-year, with shipments for the full year growing by 25%.
The year ended with 102.4 million devices shipped, data from IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker.
While Fitbit kept the top spot, it faced one of its largest declines as it kept its focus on the US market. IDC said low-cost competitors were eating away at its share.
{loadposition sam08}In the case of Xiaomi, it had adhered to a low-cost strategy and slowly trying to move upwards in terms of pricing, launching new devices with heart-rate monitoring and a slightly higher price.
However, IDC said, Xiaomi had little brand recognition outside the China market.
Apple had great success, IDC commented, with both its Watch Series 1 and 2, experiencing its best quarter in the wearables market.
"The lower entry price point and the inclusion of GPS on the Series 2, along with a completely revamped user interface have helped the company grow its presence," IDC said.
"Apple is one of the few companies that has been able to quickly refocus its watch to gain traction in the consumer market and has also been leading the charge on introducing the smartwatch category to the commercial segment."
While Garmin, fourth in the market for the quarter, saw a decline of 4%, it managed to raise its selling price to an average of US$258 in the fourth quarter from US$200 last year.
Samsung rounded out the top five, with two new models, Gear S3 Classic and Frontier and was still the only wearables manufacturers with cellular connectivity.
"Outside of watches, Samsung's portfolio also includes the Gear Fit 2 and the Icon X, though without any smartphone bundles, volumes for these wearables were lower than expected," IDC commented.
Ramon Llamas, research manager for IDC's wearables team, said: "Like any technology market, the wearables market is changing. Basic wearables started out as single-purpose devices tracking footsteps and are morphing into multi-purpose wearable devices, fusing together multiple health and fitness capabilities and smartphone notifications.
"It's enough to blur the lines against most smart wearables, to the point where first generation smartwatches are no better than most fitness trackers.
"Meanwhile, smart wearables are also evolving. Health and fitness remains a major focus, but once these devices become connected to a cellular network, expect unique applications and communications capabilities to become available. This will also solve another key issue: freeing the device from the smartphone, creating a standalone experience."