Apple Shipped Two-Thirds of All Smartwatches in 2015: Canalys

The Cupertino-based giant also beat arch rival Samsung which stood at second position in Q4 2015. Canalys said that Samsung saw better consumer reception than its previous offerings with the Gear S2 smartwatch in the period.

Pebble and Huawei came third and fourth respectively, and the latter was the only maker that currently ships smartwatches with Android Wear OS in the top four.

(Also see: Xiaomi Beats Huawei to Top Chinese Smartphone Market in 2015: Report)

The market research firm further added that basic bands exceeded 37 million units shipped in 2015. Canalys said that Fitbit saw record quarterly shipments as it led the category with Xiaomi following at the second place, shipping 12 million Mi Bands during 2015.

Canalys said that strong holiday shipments for companies including Fitbit, Apple, and Garmin drove growth of over 60 percent sequentially for all wearable bands. The wearable bands segment was led by Fitbit in Q4 which was followed by Apple (Apple Watch) and Xiaomi (with 12 million bands shipped).

(Also see: Smartwatches Will Definitely Overtake Fitness Bands, Says Gartner)

Canalys also detailed that it defines basic wearable bands as devices that can serve a specific set of purposes as well as act as accessories to smart devices but cannot run third party apps. Smartwatches, on the other hand, are treated as multi-purpose devices by Canalys that can serve as accessories to smart devices, and are capable of running third party apps.

Commenting on the wearable figures, analyst Jason Low, said, "Cashing in on holiday sales, Apple managed to rack up over five million shipments in the fourth quarter."

Adding further, analyst Daniel Matte said, "Software increasingly belongs on the wrist, and this is the direction the market is going. As the next step along this path, the Fitbit Blaze is the right product for the company to develop. It is competitively priced and is still being squarely focused on fitness."