Annette Zimmermann, research director at industry consultancy Gartner Inc, said that several hardware producers, including South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, Japan's Sony Corp and China's Lenovo Group Ltd, are also poised to join the wearables competition.

"To compete with Apple, other vendors must improve their software performance and build out their ecosystems as soon as possible," said Zimmermann.

Total shipments of smartwatches and fitness bands are set to hit 70 million this year, a 38 percent jump year-on-year, data from Gartner show. The firm estimated that customers will buy more than 500 million wearable devices in 2020. The volume was below 150 million in 2014.

The Huawei Watch may miss out on the Chinese mainland market, however, because the Android Wear operating system is not available in the market. The company said on its website that the watch will only be sold in markets where Android Wear operates.

For the same reason, Moto 360, Motorola Mobile's smartwatch that is also powered by Android Wear, has yet to make an entry into the Chinese mainland market, even though the Lenovo subsidiary has announced an aggressive return-to-China plan.

Amy Teng, a Taipei-based Gartner researcher, said that Chinese vendors need more higher-end wearables to compete with overseas companies.

"The large number of low-end products on the market are quickly consuming buyers' interest in fitness bands and smartwatches. Companies need to focus on customer experience by launching more higher-end products to clinch customer loyalty," Teng said.