Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's top electronics manufacturer, was the third-largest vendor of wearable devices in the third quarter of the year, a market report showed Wednesday, amid soaring global demand for wearables.

Samsung shipped 8.3 million units of wearable devices in the July-September period, more than doubling from a year earlier, according to the latest report from market tracker International Data Corp.

The tech giant emerged as the No. 3 player in the global wearables market with a 9.8 percent share in the third quarter, up one notch from a year earlier when the company had a 7.4 percent share, IDC data showed. 



"To date, the company has been able to successfully bundle its smartwatches and Galaxy buds with its smartphones and this strategy has paid off as many carriers around the world helped promote Samsung's lineup," IDC said in a release.

Apple Inc. solidified its top position in the third quarter with a 35 percent share after shipping 29.5 million units of wearable devices, including the Apple Watch, AirPods and Beats headphones. The American tech behemoth's market share was 23 percent in the third quarter of 2018.

China's Xiaomi Corp. was the runner-up with 12.4 million units of wearables shipments although its market share declined to 14.6 percent from 17.1 percent a year earlier, IDC data showed.

Its Chinese compatriot Huawei Technologies Co. posted the sharpest growth after its wearable device shipments more than tripled from a year earlier to reach 7.1 million units in the third quarter, which was enough to take the No. 4 position in the market with a 8.4 percent share.

IDC said the global wearable device market grew 94.6 percent on-year to post a new record for shipments in a single quarter.

Ear-worn devices accounted for nearly half of the wearable device market in the third quarter with 40.7 million units shipped globally, up 242.4 percent from a year earlier. Earn-worn products were followed by wristbands and smartwatches. (Yonhap)