Apple Watch grabbed lion's share of Sept. quarter smartwatch market with 4.5M sold

Posted:
in Apple Watch
In the September quarter, Apple was the main beneficiary of a 67 percent surge in global smartwatch shipments year-over-year, delivering 4.5 million Apple Watches according to research estimates published on Friday.

The Apple Watch Series 4.
The Apple Watch Series 4.


The market grew to approximately 10 million units, giving Apple 45 percent of it, Strategy Analytics said. The company was up 25 percent year-over-year from an estimated 3.6 million units -- it should be noted however that Apple has never released official Watch numbers, preferring to make general performance claims instead. For the most recent quarter, it said only that sales of wearables grew 50 percent, contributing to "other products" revenue of $4.2 billion.

Apple's marketshare is down from 60 percent as a result of competition from Fitbit and Samsung. Fitbit is now officially in the smartwatch market thanks to the Ionic and Versa, while Samsung has made inroads with the Galaxy Watch. Those companies shipped 1.5 and 1.1 million units in the last quarter, respectively.

Garmin is the fourth major player and saw its own progress, but has had to fend off growing competition in the fitness space. The firm shipped about 800,000 units, up from 600,000.

Apple's performance was presumably fueled by the Apple Watch Series 4, which arrived in late September. The device has a larger screen, an ECG sensor, and a faster processor, among other upgrades.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    If an Apple product is taking the majority of unit sales then the revenue has to be a huge percentage since the majority of other devices selling in bulk are low-priced and limited functionality, and I'd assume that Apple's profits for the market is very close to 100%.

    This "failure" from Apple is probably my favorite product… and it has saved me thousands of dollars in not wanting to buy a new iPhone every year.
    edited November 2018 racerhomie3muthuk_vanalingamApple Exposedchasmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 11
    One can only imagine the numbers for the next quarter when the Series 4 hits it stride. 
    Apple Exposedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 11
    Apple Watch has been perfect since WatchOS 3.
    SoliApple Exposedchasmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 11
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    When I first purchased my Series 2, the Apple Watch was still a very rare sight in my part of the world. I noticed other people on occasion staring at it, now I see them (Apple watches that is) all over the place, which is a good thing.
    edited November 2018 Apple Exposedchasmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 11
    GabyGaby Posts: 190member
    My guess is that they will announce certain “milestone” figures. For example I’d give it 12-18 months and they may well reach 50,000,000 ⌚️‘s, which I could imagine them announcing excitedly. I think with the release of the series 4, (which I bought immediately, and am truly thrilled with) they are going to start flying off the shelves now and really build momentum.  I had the first model which I’ve worn every day since release, but it’s only now with the series 4 that it actually feels like a necessity. It’s so much more functional, moreover it’s incredibly fast! And really does free one from their iPhone. 
    edited November 2018 caladanianchasmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 11
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    Gaby said:
    My guess is that they will announce certain “milestone” figures. For example I’d give it 12-18 months and they may well reach 50,000,000 ⌚️‘s, which I could imagine them announcing excitedly. I think with the release of the series 4, (which I bought immediately, and am truly thrilled with) they are going to start flying off the shelves now and really build momentum.  I had the first model which I’ve worn every day since release, but it’s only now with the series 4 that it actually feels like a necessity. It’s so much more functional, moreover it’s incredibly fast! And really does free one from their iPhone. 
    They do this now with things like Apple Music subscribers and the like, so you're probably right.
    caladanianwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 11
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Gaby said:
    My guess is that they will announce certain “milestone” figures. For example I’d give it 12-18 months and they may well reach 50,000,000 ⌚️‘s, which I could imagine them announcing excitedly. I think with the release of the series 4, (which I bought immediately, and am truly thrilled with) they are going to start flying off the shelves now and really build momentum.  I had the first model which I’ve worn every day since release, but it’s only now with the series 4 that it actually feels like a necessity. It’s so much more functional, moreover it’s incredibly fast! And really does free one from their iPhone. 
    They do this now with things like Apple Music subscribers and the like, so you're probably right.
    Last week Cook announced that Macs have an installed base of 100M.
    caladanianwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 11
    Apple ExposedApple Exposed Posts: 15unconfirmed, member
    Apple Watch and AirPods are becoming just as successful as iPhone yet the media are ignoring this.
    watto_cobraSoli
  • Reply 9 of 11
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,267member
    Apple Watch and AirPods are becoming just as successful as iPhone yet the media are ignoring this.
    Well, not quite as successful ... they are huge hits in their area of speciality, but no — even without specific sales figures, the amount of total revenue their category makes suggests that at best 1 in 10 people who buy an iPhone (which sells typically an average of about 50M units per quarter) buy a Watch (which seems to average something north of 5M units per quarter). It’s entirely reasonable to assume that the AirPods are more popular than the Watch, so let’s say 7.5M per quarter on average, or about 1 in 5 iPhone buyers buy those.

    It’s a fantastic business, but no single product in the entire consumer electronics field approaches iPhone numbers (unless you lump together things like “all HDTVs” or “all Android phones”).
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 11
    Apple ExposedApple Exposed Posts: 15unconfirmed, member
    chasm said:
    Apple Watch and AirPods are becoming just as successful as iPhone yet the media are ignoring this.
    Well, not quite as successful ... they are huge hits in their area of speciality, but no — even without specific sales figures, the amount of total revenue their category makes suggests that at best 1 in 10 people who buy an iPhone (which sells typically an average of about 50M units per quarter) buy a Watch (which seems to average something north of 5M units per quarter). It’s entirely reasonable to assume that the AirPods are more popular than the Watch, so let’s say 7.5M per quarter on average, or about 1 in 5 iPhone buyers buy those.

    It’s a fantastic business, but no single product in the entire consumer electronics field approaches iPhone numbers (unless you lump together things like “all HDTVs” or “all Android phones”).
    Sorry late reply but I highly disagree.,

    You're comparing 2018 iPhone sales to Watches 3rd year and AirPods 2nd year.

    If we compare launches and yearly sales, Apple Watch and AirPods are outselling iPhone. Maybe in 10 years they may not be as successful as iPhone but their off to a better start and remember, iPhone knockoffs are stealing sales from iPhone where AirPods and AppleWatch may not have that problem.
    Solijony0
  • Reply 11 of 11
    I’m not surprised. I tried a Tag ($$$$) connected 41 and sent it back. The case and lugs are really good looking, but the non-rotating bezel is silly and it’s a technological toy compared to the Apple 4. Battery life was barely one day. Oddly, the only face on the Tag I liked was the charging face, which was unavailable on the watch off the cludgy charger. The available face options with interactive complications had a choice of dark hands against a dark face or light hands against a light face (!).

    But it is much more attractive than the Apple 4 IMO.

    Android is a truly awful iOS wannabe.
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