Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    CHINA’S wearable products sector is taking off this year, and Shenzhen is becoming the most important base for the sector thanks to its mature industry chain, industry insiders told a forum at the city’s annual clock and watch fair yesterday.

    “The wearable device sector is expected to grow explosively starting from this year,” said Zhu Shunhua, head of the Shenzhen Watch & Clock Association (SZWA). “Shenzhen boasts the best and most mature industry chain for research and development as well as manufacture of wearables, so the city may have the chance to lead the world in the development of wearable devices.”

    Zhu expects sales of wearable products will exceed 100 million units next year and said that growth potential has spurred traditional watchmakers as well as IT firms to collaborate in embracing wearable technology. Some high-tech companies in China have seen their sales of wearable products skyrocket, according to Zhu.

    Sales of Xiaomi’s US$13 Mi Band, a fitness smart wristband, reached 1 million units in the fourth quarter of last year while sales of Huawei Technologies’ Talkband are expected to exceed 1 million units this year, according to Zhu and Hong Yinxin, a managing director with Huawei Device.

    “Overseas sales of smartphones were about eight times that of smartwatches while the rate was about 50 times that in China,” said Du Xi, vice general manager of FIYTA (Group) Holdings, a local watchmaker. “So there is potential for domestic wearable device makers to achieve faster growth.”

    Currently, about 75 percent of wearable products on sale are wristbands while smart glasses take up about 10 percent, smart rings account for about 4 percent and headwear another 4 percent, according to the latest survey by Shenzhen’s watch and clock association.

    Roughly 85 percent of wearable products are sold online in China in contrast to 15 percent offline, the survey showed.

    The biggest hurdle for Chinese wearable device makers is the lack of core technologies, such as the core chips of such products as well as MEMS (Micro-electromechanical Systems), according to Zhu.

    “Wearable product makers will need to regard themselves as service providers and won’t succeed unless they provide quality, long-lasting services to customers who have bought their products,” said Liang Ying, R&D general manager of Lenovo (Shenzhen) Electronics.

    The China Watch Jewelry & Gift Fair, the largest of its kind in China, opens today and will close Sunday. More than 600 watch and clock brands from home and abroad will show their latest products at the 45,000-square-meter fair to around 600,000 visitors.