Top 10 Fitbit Competitors In 2023

Fitbit is a U.S based company that is in the industry of consumer electronics. The company was founded by James Park and Eric Friedman in 2007, in Delaware. The company filed for an IPO in 2015 worth $358 million. Fitbit was initially called Healthy Metrics Research Incorporated and later switched to Fitbit in 2007 October. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. In 2016, the CEO announced that the company was shifting from consumer electronics to become a company that manufactures digital healthcare products. In 2018, the company partnered with Adidas in one of its products, ‘Fitbit Ionic’ which in turn had an Adidas logo on it.  Fitbit has 1694 employees as of July 2020.

NAME	Fitbit
FOUNDED	March 2007
HEADQUARTERS	San Francisco, California
SIC CODE	5699
STATUS	Public Independent Company of NYSENKE
INDUSTRY SECTOR	Consumer Electronics
EMPLOYEES	1694 (2020)
TRADING SYMBOL	NASDAQ: NKE

Fitbit similar companies:

Garmin, POLAR, MI, Huawei, Suunto, Apple, Samsung, Misfit, Philips, Wahoo.

How the company makes money

Fitbit primarily is a company that produces wearable devices. Their main products are activity tracking devices, smartwatches and other wearables. The company is mainly focused on devices that measure personnel metrics that are related to fitness. Aside from their activity bracelets, Fitbit developed an application and a website for their devices that allows clients to sync their data with their phones and computers.

Fitbit Wearables

Fitbit tracker came as the company’s first product and was released in 2009 which retailed at $99. The device would just need to be clipped to a wearer’s clothes, and it monitored the individual’s movement and other vitals. In 2018 the company partnered with Adidas in producing the smartwatch Fitbit Ionic. Fitbit has released tracker bracelets by the name ‘Fitbit Charge’ with the most recent being the Fitbit charge 4. Fitbit has reportedly sold 100 million of its products. In 2019, the company earned a total of $1.43 billion in revenue.

Fitbit App and Software

Fitbit introduced its app in December 2018, which provided sync for its users and included more data for its uses in monitoring, weight, sleep and even water intake. Fitbit applications are available for android and IOS. As of June 2020, the Fitbit health app has had 700,000 downloads across different devices and reeled in $1 million in revenue.

Apple

Apple is based in the United States, with its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniac and Ronald Wayne. The company is one of the ‘Big tech’ companies alongside, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and Google.

Apple started as a computer production company and started its brand of mac computers. In 2007, the company launched the iPhone which has been a great success. Apple consumer technology products currently include; mac computer, Iphones, I pads, TVs, software, electric vehicles, and our focus, apple watches. The iPhone is the primary source of Apple’s income accounting for 53.5% of its revenue. 

Apple services come in second with 17.7% of the revenue, macs take 9.8% of the income and wearables and home appliances take up 9.4% of the revenues. Ipads complete the list with 8.1% of company sales. Apple made $24.5 billion from wearables in 2019 selling, with wristbands and watches registering 69.4 million and 92.4 million sales respectively.  Apple has its success over the years because of its genius and consistent branding and high-quality products. Apple has 137000 employees

Xiaomi

Xiaomi is one of the most famous electronics companies in China. The company has its headquarters in Beijing. Xiaomi was founded in 2010 by Lei Jun. The company is invested in consumer electronics and computer software and sells its products worldwide.

The primary source of revenue for Xiaomi is its electronics, specifically mobile phones, which account for two-thirds of the company’s revenues. In 2019 Xiaomi achieved total revenue of RMB205.8 billion (approximately 30 billion USD). Among this, Xiaomi phones brought in 113.8billion RMB, lifestyle products and IoT accounted for RMB43.82 billion and internet services accounted for RBM 15.96 billion.

Xiaomi is recognised globally. It keeps its competitors at bay thanks to its advertising, market targeting, and its low prices. Furthermore, Xiaomi targets certain countries in the world such as India with their products. The company has 14,513 full time employees.

Garmin

Garmin has been in existence since 1989, when Min Kao and Gary Burrel founded it. The company has its headquarters in Kansas, USA and Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Garmin is a technology company, specifically GPS systems for Aviation, marine, automotive, and even sporting activities.

Garmin has also tapped into the wearables industry where it has produced smartwatches and activity trackers, good enough to compete with Apple, Xiaomi and Fitbit. The company has developed different models of smartwatches and activity trackers with the latest being the Garmin Forerunner 945, which launched in 2019.

In 2019, Garmin posted revenues of  $3.758 billion, with outdoor and fitness products accounting for 52% of the total. Garmin competes with the rest by producing high quality and well-designed products. The company also provides unique features for its products such as enabling Spotify in its watches. The company has a total of 13,000 employees as of 2019.

Polar

Polar Electronics, known as Polar, is a Finnish company that was founded in 1977. Its founder is the late Seppo Säynäjäkangas, who is famous for inventing the first heart rate monitor that was wireless. In 2000, Polar released its wireless heartrate monitor.

Since then, the company has been focused on producing health and fitness instruments such as heart rate monitoring wearables, and sports and athletics accessories and training computers.

Polar reeled in revenue of between 50-100 million dollars. The company has thrived over the years, mostly because of its consistency. Currently, Polar electronics has between 1000-5000 employees.

Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics is one of the largest recognised electronics companies in the world. It is based in South Korea and has its headquarters in YeongTong, Suwon. It is just a part of the Samsung Group and was founded in 1969. The founder of Samsung is Lee Byung Chul. Samsung Electronics specialises in consumer electronics, home appliances and semiconductors. Samsung grew immensely and by 2009, it was ranked as the largest tech company globally based on its $117.4 billion in sales, beating Hewlett Packard.  

In terms of electronics, Samsung is the largest phone manufacturer globally. Samsung has a lot of success with its electronics such as LED and LCD panels, memory chips, televisions, laptops, printers and later wearables, including Smartwatches and fitness trackers. Samsung electronics primary source of revenue is their mobile communication devices which brought in revenues of KRW230 trillion. (About $193 billion)

Samsung entered the scene of Smartwatches in 2013 introducing its line of Samsung Gear. There have been a few models of its devices since then most notably the Galaxy watch which was introduced in 2018. The company has had success because of a combination of good business decisions and their ability to excel in several areas at once.

Samsung has 287,439 employees.

Huawei

Huawei is a multinational tech company in Shenzen China that is recognised globally. The company was founded in 1938 by Rhen Zhengfei. Huawei was initially a phone switch manufacturer. The company later took up the manufacturing of telecommunication equipment, consumer electronics and networking equipment.

The main source of revenue for Huawei is its smartphones and its network carrier network business. In 2018, the company became the second-largest phone manufacturer worldwide, only second to Samsung. Its consumer business reeled in CNY467.3 billion while the network carrier business earned the company CNY296.7 billion

Huawei has explored new horizons including smartwatches and other wearables, with one of their most recent releases being the ‘Huawei GT 2 Watch’. The success of the company’s products comes as the result of great branding and its relationship with local communication carrier services across different countries who help sell company products. Huawei has 194,000 employees as of 2019.

Misfit

Misfit is another relatively new company that was founded in 2011, 4 years after Fitbit. Since its founding by Sonny Vu, John Sculley and Sridhar Iyengar, the company has been focused on consumer electronics. Misfit is owned by the parent company Fossil Group and has its headquarters in San Francisco California.

Misfit produces wearables with sensor technology and other home automation equipment. Its wearables include activity trackers and smartwatches, which are their main source of revenue. The company had undergone various series of funding until 2015 when Fossil Group acquired the company for $260 million.

Misfit has developed various models of its trackers such as Shine, Flash, Ray trackers and, Vapor, Phase, Path and Command smartwatches. The company has revenues of approximately $19 million. Misfit success in the market has been because of innovation and producing high-quality products. Misfit has 140 employees as of 2019.

Suunto

Suunto is a tech company that is based in Finland. It was founded in 1936 by Tuomas Vohlonen. Its headquarters are in Vantaa, located in Finland. Suunto manufactures measuring devices, such as compasses, dive computers, sport and lifestyle watches and other precision instruments. The company used to produce compasses and other navigation devices during the Second World War, which it sold to both civilians and the military. 

The name Suunto is derived from ‘Suunta’, which is Finnish for direction. Amer sports acquired Suunto in 1999.

Currently, Suunto produces sports watches like core, Vector and Gambit, which include a lot of functions such as GPS, altitude, and even a compass. Suunto also produces lifestyle watches such as Suunto Kailash and the ‘Essential’ line of premium watches.

Suunto also released software that helps interpret the data that is collected by their devices for consumers. Their software also links their devices to Android and IOS systems. Suunto can compete with the rest thanks to its excellent designs and high functionality of their devices. In 2015 the company launched its website, whose one of the features is allowing customers to customize their watches before ordering individually.

In 2019, the company earned revenues of $74.30 million. Suunto has approximately 300 employees worldwide.

Casio

Another major player in the wearables industry is Casio. Casio is a Japanese consumer electronics company that has its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo. The company came into existence in 1946 from the efforts of Tadao Kashio. The first product Casio produced was a cigarette holding ring, and it had a lot of success after the second world war.

The company started building calculators in 1949 from the profits of their initial product. Since then, Casio has manufactured calculators, cash registers, watches, portable TVs, printers and even electronic keyboards. Currently, the primary source of revenue for Casio has been its calculators and in 2006 the company had sold 1 billion calculators. Casio has also been represented in the watch market over the years with its G-shock line which features highly durable watches. In 2019, Casio reeled in revenues amounting to $2.538 billion.

Casio products are very durable with the G-shock being suitable for extreme conditions. The company had 11,869 employees in 2019.

Puma

Puma is a German company that specialises in the industry of apparel, footwear, wearables and sports equipment. Puma was introduced to the world in 1948, by Rudolf Dassler. The company has its headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Puma distributes its products worldwide.

The company is most famous for its footwear which is used in different sports such as football and basketball, athletics and fitness. The company has also made its mark in the wearable electronics industry with smartwatches and fitness bracelets. Puma makes most of its revenue from footwear accounting for roughly 47% of its total revenues. In 2019, Puma recorded revenues of about 5.5 billion Euros. Puma introduced its first smartwatch in 2019, which is fitness-focused and has features, such as GPS, heart rate monitoring and OS ENABLED

The company succeeds with its products because of its great brand exposure with a good example being that the company is one of the official Borrusia Dortmund sponsors with its log on the official team’s shirts. It also thrives on customer loyalty. Puma had 14,332 employees by December of 2019.

Conclusion

The top ten Fitbit Competitors include; Apple, Samsung, Garmin, Xiaomi, Polar, Huawei, Misfit, Suunto, Casio and Puma. Altogether, these companies have employed approximately 1,159,000 employees. Apple is the top Fitbit competitor and has 137,000 employees.

Competitors Stats

NAME	FOUNDED	HEADQUARTERS	NO. OF EMPLOYEES
Apple	1976	Cupertino, California	137,000
Garmin	1989	Kansas, USA and Schaffhausen, Switzerland	13,000
Xiaomi	2010	Beijing, China	14,513
Polar	1977	Kempele Finland	1000-5000
Samsung	1969	YeongTong, Suwong, South Korea	287,439
Huawei	1938	Shenzhen, China	194,000
Misfit	2011	San Francisco, California	140
Suunto	1936	Vantaa, Finland	300
Casio	1946	Shibuya, Tokyo	11,896
Puma	1948	Herzogenaurach, Germany	14,332