Apple Inc, the United States-based tech giant, has shipped nearly 7 million of its smartwatches worldwide since launching the device earlier this year, while Chinese vendors led by Xiaomi Corp made aggressive strides in the inexpensive wearables market, a new study said.

The study, released by research company Canalys on Thursday, said Apple was the only smartwatch maker to ship more than 300,000 units in the third quarter, followed by Pebble Technology Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Xiaomi, meanwhile, led the market by selling lower-end wearables in the quarter ended in September.