Apple Watch shipped 2.2M units in March quarter, but lost marketshare, estimates claim
Apple shipped about 2.2 million Apple Watches in the March quarter, although it still saw its share of the smartwatch market slip to 52.4 percent, according to research estimates published on Thursday.
In the December quarter, the company controlled 63 percent of the market with 5.1 million units, Strategy Analytics said. The dip comes on top of an expected seasonal decline in industry shipments, which fell from 8.1 million during the holidays to 4.2 million.
Strategy Analytics explained the shift in market control by pointing to rising competition from Motorola, LG, and others, even if Apple still holds a commanding lead. Samsung -- Apple's biggest individual rival in the smartwatch space -- actually saw its share decline as well, sliding from 16 percent (1.3 million units) in the December quarter to 14.3 percent, or just 600,000 units.
Apple has yet to publish any official sales data for the Watch, leaving researchers to calculate their own numbers based on sources like retail traffic and segment revenue.
During the company's quarterly results call, CEO Tim Cook would only say that Watch sales met Apple's expectations in the March quarter, and that he expects the device to follow seasonal patterns akin to iPods. He also repeated a claim that the Watch sold more units in its first year than the iPhone did in its own. The Watch, however, has had the benefit of wider distribution, and a radically different market for "smart" products than that of 2007.
A director at Strategy Analytics, Cliff Raskind, argued that the "honeymoon for version 1 of the Apple Watch is over," and that the success of a second-generation model will be linked to offering better apps, plus features like cellular connections and improved battery life.
In the December quarter, the company controlled 63 percent of the market with 5.1 million units, Strategy Analytics said. The dip comes on top of an expected seasonal decline in industry shipments, which fell from 8.1 million during the holidays to 4.2 million.
Strategy Analytics explained the shift in market control by pointing to rising competition from Motorola, LG, and others, even if Apple still holds a commanding lead. Samsung -- Apple's biggest individual rival in the smartwatch space -- actually saw its share decline as well, sliding from 16 percent (1.3 million units) in the December quarter to 14.3 percent, or just 600,000 units.
Apple has yet to publish any official sales data for the Watch, leaving researchers to calculate their own numbers based on sources like retail traffic and segment revenue.
During the company's quarterly results call, CEO Tim Cook would only say that Watch sales met Apple's expectations in the March quarter, and that he expects the device to follow seasonal patterns akin to iPods. He also repeated a claim that the Watch sold more units in its first year than the iPhone did in its own. The Watch, however, has had the benefit of wider distribution, and a radically different market for "smart" products than that of 2007.
A director at Strategy Analytics, Cliff Raskind, argued that the "honeymoon for version 1 of the Apple Watch is over," and that the success of a second-generation model will be linked to offering better apps, plus features like cellular connections and improved battery life.
Comments
Maybe Apple should make all their products free, certainly that would please the Marketshare Worshippers. I mean, they'd go out of business in short order, but who gives a fuck? MARKETSHARE!
What a failure.
The use case for this product is so limited at this point that I wouldn't be surprised to see the entire market shrinking now the novelty factor wore off.
FYI, I love that cook and Apple stand for civil rights like equality and privacy.
It is about the money.
2.2 million Apple Watches is about $1.1 BILLION in revenue.
In the December quarter, the company controlled 63 percent of the market with 5.1 million units...
Not bad at all.
This is like every single clickbait article with Apple in the title.
Another witless article essentially.
Considering the Watch is nearly a year old and supposedly close to a refreshs (says rumors); lower sales are expected.
Just like the Iphone always "lost shares" during the late spring to summer for 5 years (except for 2015 when Samsung S6 had crap sales).
So, I guess Apple must have had a very bad 2007-2014 period by that measure.
They're selling 2.2 M just before a refresh... Boohoohoo.... That's what 14M for first 10 months.... (they really only sold volume in May and did not have full distribution and countries until October). Well, I'm sure Apple is crying a river.
Your whole rant sounds like a Micheal Dell "Sell the company and give the money back to the shareholders" speech because you don't have the vision to see how the company moves forward because you don't understand what the company does, what it can do or what it is working on. Nobody in the know is advocating firing Tim Cook. He has sold more products and put more money in Apple's coffers in the last 5 years than Jobs did in both of his terms at the company.