CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Tuesday, March 12, 2019 | 15 BUSINESS Wearables adoption picking up pace

Convenience prompting growing number of tech­savvy Chinese consumers to embrace use of smart devices

By MA SI [email protected]

With improved battery life and increasingly rich capabilities, the smart wearables sector, which has experienced some growing pains, is now finding new momentum in China, the world’s largest weara­ bles market. From smart bands and fitness trackers that can count steps, to watches that can access smartphone apps and even make calls, local con­ sumers are increasingly willing to embrace these gadgets to make life more convenient. Ma Guosheng, a 37­year­old IT engineer at a bank in Hunan prov­ ince, for instance, spent about 1,800 yuan ($268) on the 4G ver­ sion of TicWatch Pro, a smart­ watch made by Chinese company Mobvoi Inc. “The watch can access dozens of apps and make phone calls. More importantly, it can last about four to five days. There is no need for me to charge the watch every day,” Ma said. Users like Ma are helping push the sales of wearables in the country. In the third quarter of 2018, more than 14.5 million units of wearables were shipped within China. Gadgets that support third­party applica­ tions surged by about 74 percent, according to the latest data from market research company Interna­ tional Data Corp. In comparison, global shipments of wearable devices reached 32 mil­ lion units during the three­month period. That is to say, China accounted for more than one third of the industry. Ramon T. Llamas, research director for the wearables team at Customers look at Apple Watch products at an Apple store in Shanghai. QIU DAOCEN / FOR CHINA DAILY IDC, said in a research note that “China — the largest market for wearables and more than double watches, Gartner added. that period, data from IDC shows. tained an absolute advantage in the dren. Though without payment Other Chinese companies such as the size of the US market — has Sensing the business potential, The huge popularity of the Mi premium segment with its Apple capabilities, the devices have other Huawei Technologies Co Ltd have grown thanks to strong device Chinese vendors are moving fast to Band 3 and its successful perform­ Watch series. typical smartwatch capabilities also unveiled smartwatches for development and experimentation, grow their product portfolios. Xiao­ ance in international markets are “At the moment, the smartwatch designed to get kids used to weara­ fashion or sports purposes, hoping low­cost products and strong mi Corp has stepped up its push to buoying Xiaomi’s growth. IDC market is bolstered by the relatively ble technology and to continue to to grab a spot in the market. demand for basic devices to draw in expand its presence in the sector said nearly 39 percent of Xiaomi’s stable and higher average selling use it as teenagers and adults. “Several years ago, tech giants new users.” through Huami Corp, a US­listed total shipments were exported out price of the Apple Watch,” Alan SE 3, a smartwatch model jumped the gun before the hard­ Analysts see the upward trend company it has invested in. of China, double the roughly 20 Antin, senior director at Gartner, unveiled by 360 Security Technolo­ ware was able to catch up to the ini­ continuing. Another market Huami makes wearable bands percent from a year earlier. The said in a research note. gy Inc, comes with GPS and Beidou tial design of smart wearables, research company Gartner predict­ and smartwatches for Xiaomi, company has successfully expand­ But the overall average selling positioning services, which can help triggering weaker market results ed that worldwide shipments of which helped the latter leapfrog ed its reach to regions including price of smartwatches is expected to parents locate children to ensure than the industry had expected,” wearable devices will reach 225 mil­ Apple Inc as the largest wearables Europe, India, the Middle East slowly decline from $222 in 2018 to safety. Equipped with a 1.44­inch said Xiang Ligang, a telecom expert lion in 2019, up 25.8 percent from vendor by shipment in the third and Africa. $210 in 2022, as competitors roll out screen, the watch also supports and CEO of the telecom industry the figure in 2018 and driven chiefly quarter of 2018. Apple also saw a healthy expan­ more affordable products and big­ internet calls and has a white­name website Cctime. by markets including China. Xiaomi shipped 6.9 million units sion of 54 percent year­on­year, with ger volumes, resulting in reductions list that can prevent crank calls. Par­ “But as technology advances, As a result, end­user spending on of wearables from July to Septem­ 4.2 million units of wearable devices in manufacturing and component ents can also set time in which the some problems are quietly going wearable devices is expected to ber, grabbing 21.5 percent of the shipped in the same time frame. costs, Antin added. device can not be used so that chil­ away, and people are increasingly reach $42 billion in 2019, with $16.2 global market. It saw a whopping Despite losing to Xiaomi in ship­ One segment that is seeing strong dren won’t be distracted by the willing to accessorize their smart­ billion of that amount on smart­ 90.9 percent year­on­year growth in ments, the US tech company main­ growth in China is watches for chil­ functions in classes. phones,” he said. Huami steps up efforts in R&D of digital healthcare products

By MA SI

US­listed Huami Corp is ratchet­ ing up resources allocated to digital healthcare services, after the five­ year­old company saw spectacular sales performance for smartwatches and fitness trackers. Huang Wang, co­founder and CEO of Huami, said he does not see the company as a hardware maker. “Instead, we are becoming a data­ driven, cloud­based company offer­ ing healthcare insights.” The company is the sole provider of Xiaomi Corp’s wearables. It designs and manufactures Xiaomi’s wearables, including fitness track­ ers and smartwatches, and also makes self­branded products. So far, it has sold over 50 million Huami Corp releases its Amazfit smart wearable bands at a news wearable units and helped Xiaomi conference in Beijing. XINHUA overtake Apple Inc as the top weara­ ble vendor in the third quarter of 2018 when Huami’s shipments toring data of people’s heart rates to identify fingerprints and faces of more than doubled to 8.2 million last year and found that 18,000 were different users. By combining cloud­ units. abnormal, helping users identify based AI with in­device AI, Huami The strong performance helped health problems that may have gone wants to better individualize data the startup achieve more than 1 bil­ unnoticed for a long time. while strictly protecting users’ pri­ lion yuan ($148.8 million) in reve­ A visitor looks at a T­shirt, which has a wearable smart heart rate tracking device, at an exhibition in The above findings are based on vacy at the same time. nue from July to September, Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on Oct 19, 2017. ZHANG PEIJIAN / FOR CHINA DAILY the precondition that the data Market research company Inter­ marking a 127 percent year­on­year acquired must be effective, and that national Data Corp said in a report growth, and its profits also nearly is exactly the result of the long­term that healthcare is one of the most doubled to 134 million yuan. ting edge artificial intelligence the category,” said Tobias Reiss­ ble more new healthcare services. cooperation between Huami’s prod­ important application scenarios for To better build its brand image, technology, app design and manu­ Schmidt, president and CEO of Tim­ “A huge number of data such as uct development teams and doctors, smartwatches. Huami has also inked an agree­ facturing capabilities. ex Group, adding that these new sleeping times, workout routines Huang added. “Smartwatches are not just for ment with Timex Group, a global The deal is set to further expand products and services will provide and heart rates are closely related to Huami unveiled a smartwatch sports. Adding more health moni­ leader in watchmaking for more the company’s presence in overseas users of smart wearables conve­ human health, which can signifi­ than can accurately monitor heart toring functions will be one of the than 160 years. Under the deal, the markets, in particular the United nient access to valuable data and cantly help our users have a better rates last year, before Apple most important application scenari­ two sides will explore opportuni­ States, after about 43 percent of beneficial connections to the world understanding of their physical con­ launched a similar function with its os and will fundamentally change ties to develop new products and Huami’s products were shipped around them. ditions,” Huang said. latest smartwatch in September. the behavior of users,” IDC added. increase global presence in the overseas in the third quarter of 2018. Such a move is part of Huami’s According to him, the company’s The company also developed a “But it also demands technological smart wearables marketplace, pair­ “Together with Huami, we will broader efforts to build a strong deep learning AI cloud platform, in chip whose algorithm can identify superiority from vendors to defend ing Timex’s long standing expertise bring forth a new generation of hardware presence, which can func­ partnership with doctors, analyzed the heart rate data of different users, the mounting competitions from as a watchmaker with Huami’s cut­ smartwatches that are set to disrupt tion as a basic infrastructure to ena­ more than 11 million pieces of moni­ similar to the ability of smartphones rivals.”