New data from Counterpoint Research has revealed that Apple captured nearly 90% of the total shipments of edge AI-enabled smartwatches in the first quarter of 2026.

According to MacRumors, this dominance came with the growth of edge AI adoption in the broader smartwatch market by 70% year-on-year, reaching 25% in the first quarter of 2026.

Edge AI technology in smartwatches

The term “edge AI” refers to artificial intelligence that runs directly on the device’s chip itself, rather than being processed on external servers. In Apple’s watch, this means that the integrated neural engine takes on tasks like detecting irregular heartbeats or recognizing a fall immediately, without sending data to a paired iPhone or to the cloud first.

Anshika Jain, Principal Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, “Companies are continuously updating their smartwatches to enhance AI capabilities. Integrating edge AI enables immediate health insights and faster responses while ensuring data privacy.”

She continued, “Currently, edge AI adoption is limited to leading brands. Apple alone accounts for nearly 90% of shipments of edge AI-enabled smartwatches in the first quarter of 2026.

Health and fitness tracking remains the primary use of AI in smartwatches, with Counterpoint data indicating that blood pressure device shipments have doubled and sleep apnea detection shipments have tripled annually. Brands now seem to be moving towards diabetes detection.

Apple’s lead goes back to 2023 when it introduced the S9 chip with a quad-core neural engine specifically designed for on-device machine learning in the Apple Watch. Qualcomm, its competitor, only entered this year with the Snapdragon Wear Elite platform. Google is also said to be preparing a wearable Tensor-based chip but has not yet released it.