Smart watches and smart fitness bracelets are gaining in popularity in China as consumers turn to such devices for tracking health amid the optimization of COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

As pulse oximeters, which measure blood-oxygen levels, are in short supply amid surging demand, sales of smart watches and fitness bracelets, which claim to have similar functions, have been rising in recent weeks.

Online retailer Suning.com said sales of bracelets and watches with oximeter functions surged 330 percent year-on-year in December on its platform.

Sales of Huawei's smart bracelets increased by about 130 percent month-on-month in the past two weeks, and sales of its smart watches also jumped by more than 100 percent month-on-month, according to the company.

A salesman at a Huawei store in Beijing said the company's GT3 Pro smart watch has been certified by the National Medical Product Administration as a Class II medical device. "But if you talk about blood oxygen monitoring, it can only be used as a reference, not as a basis for a clinical diagnosis."

An online customer service agent for Xiaomi's smart watches said: "A growing number of consumers asked whether the watches can measure the oxygen concentration in arterial blood. But the function is just meant for casual daily tracking, not for medical use."

Wang Liming, a 32-year-old white-collar worker in Anyang, Henan province, said she recently bought a smart watch for her father to measure his blood-oxygen levels. "I know the data is not that accurate. But it can offer a rough picture. That's enough at present, as the oximeters are out of stock," Wang said.

The recent rising demand for fitness-oriented smart wearables is in line with a broader market trend of consumers paying more attention to their health and becoming increasingly willing to embrace electronic devices to track body data.

In the third quarter of 2022, shipments of smart watches hit 10.8 million units in China, marking a year-on-year increase of 1.8 percent, according to data from market research company International Data Corp.

Among the total, sales of adult smart watches increased 13.3 percent, driven by the release of new products from Huawei, Apple and other brands. IDC expects that future market challenges and opportunities will coexist. Amid COVID-19, people are paying more attention to health, including monitoring blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, body fat and other indicators. With the continuous improvement of technology, more and more new health functions will be applied to smart watches, and this field will continue to gain momentum, IDC added.