Wearables Split in Two: Sports Watches vs Screenless Trackers

The wearables market is shrinking on the surface—and quietly reshaping underneath

The wearables market is the global industry for wrist-based devices such as smartwatches and fitness bands that track activity, health and notifications, and it is now splitting into premium sports watches for enthusiasts and screenless fitness trackers for distraction-free health monitoring as overall shipments plateau. Global wrist-based wearable shipments fell 2% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, based on new figures from research firm Omdia. On paper, that looks like a saturated category drifting into decline. In reality, the downturn hides a sharp polarization in what people are buying: at one end, premium sports watches loaded with advanced training tools; at the other, minimalist, screenless health bands. Everything in the middle—the generic, mid-range smartwatch—has started to crumble, and that should worry the brands that built their businesses there.

Two winners emerge: premium sports watches and screenless fitness trackers

Omdia’s latest data shows the wrist-worn market splitting cleanly into “screenless trackers” and “feature-rich sports watches” from brands like Garmin. This is not a niche quirk; it is the new center of gravity. Consumers today either want high-accuracy, full-featured sports watches with long battery life, or minimalist bands without displays that focus on continuous health monitoring and stay out of the way. Screenless fitness trackers already make up more than 15% of the basic band category, even though that broader category shrank 9% over the same period. Meanwhile, advanced smartwatch models, particularly sport-focused ones, recorded growth while classic fitness bands and basic watches declined. In other words, wearables market trends show that general-purpose, do‑a‑bit‑of‑everything devices are losing out to products with a clear, narrow job: be a serious training tool, or be silent health infrastructure.

Garmin’s rise shows how the middle collapses

No company illustrates this split better than Garmin. Its bet on premium sports watches with precise metrics and actionable training insights is paying off. Garmin smartwatch sales have climbed to 15% market share, up from 11% a year earlier, matching Samsung’s 15% after the latter slipped from 17%. Apple still leads smartwatches at 46%, down from 48%, but the real story is that Garmin has moved from specialist outsider to co‑runner‑up in a single year. That is the cost of the collapsing middle: mid-tier and basic smartwatches are “being left behind” as buyers upgrade to serious sports tools or downgrade to simple trackers. Garmin’s upcoming screenless product line, including the Cirqa launched after the reporting period, is likely to push its share even higher as the two winning segments start to blur.

What users are voting for: depth or quiet

The bifurcation is a consumer backlash against half-baked wrist computers. On one side are people who want depth: advanced athletes and data-driven users willing to pay for accurate training load, recovery insights, and sport-specific metrics that a mid-range smartwatch cannot match. On the other side are people who want quiet: screenless trackers are gaining momentum because they track health without constant notifications, message prompts, or a tiny display begging to be checked. The appeal, as the data firm notes, is “no constant notifications, no temptation to check messages and reply back” while still getting continuous monitoring. Mid-range smartwatches fail both of these groups; they interrupt like phones, but lack the depth of sports watches and the calm of minimalist bands. Consumers are voting with their wrists, and they are voting against digital noise.

The next battle: AI, higher prices, and a squeezed middle

The shake-out is far from over. Analysts warn that rising memory and component costs are already feeding into higher device prices. To justify those increases in the second half of 2026, Omdia expects brands to lean on deeper AI features, richer interpretation of health data, and better cross-platform compatibility. That sounds promising, but it also favors the two segments already winning: premium sports watches can turn AI into smarter coaching, and screenless fitness trackers can use it to give clearer, low-friction health insights. Meanwhile, manufacturers rooted in mid-range generalist watches will struggle. One analyst forecast even suggests that Samsung will find it hard to defend its tied second place in smartwatch share in the coming quarter. Unless those brands pick a side—go premium sport or go screenless health—they risk being the next casualties of a market that no longer rewards being in the middle.