Apple Watch retaining clear lead in smartwatch market despite advances by Samsung & Fitbit...
The Apple Watch maintained a solid grip on smartwatch shipments during the March quarter, according to new estimates, even as rivals from Samsung and Fitbit made headway.
Apple claimed 35.8 percent of the market, Counterpoint Research said on Thursday. That's up just slightly year-over-year from 35.5 percent in Q1 2018, despite Apple Watch shipments reportedly rising 49 percent in the same timeframe.
Samsung's marketshare jumped from 7.2 to 11.1 percent, something Counterpoint credited to success of the latest Galaxy Watch models. These include a traditional round watchface, improved battery life, and 4G connectivity, making them one of the better smartwatch options for people who don't have or want an iPhone.
Fitbit rose from 3.7 percent to 5.5. Once focused on dedicated fitness trackers, the company's Ionic and Versa watches have expanded functions including third-party apps and Fitbit Pay.
Another notable maker was Huawei, which leapt to 2.8 percent of the market by launching the Huawei Watch GT.
Companies losing out in the quarter included imoo, Amazfit, Fossil, and Garmin. While Garmin is focused primarily on hardcore fitness, sports, and outdoors enthusiasts, the rest are trying to cater to a general market.
In disclosing quarterly wearables numbers on Tuesday, Apple kept precise Watch sales a secret as usual. It did say that wearable sales rose 50 percent year-over-year, and that roughly three-quarters of Watches were sold to people new to the hardware. Overall "Wearables, Home, and Accessories" revenue rose from $3.94 billion to $5.1 billion, though that includes AirPods, Beats products, Apple TVs, and the HomePod, among other things.
Apple claimed 35.8 percent of the market, Counterpoint Research said on Thursday. That's up just slightly year-over-year from 35.5 percent in Q1 2018, despite Apple Watch shipments reportedly rising 49 percent in the same timeframe.
Samsung's marketshare jumped from 7.2 to 11.1 percent, something Counterpoint credited to success of the latest Galaxy Watch models. These include a traditional round watchface, improved battery life, and 4G connectivity, making them one of the better smartwatch options for people who don't have or want an iPhone.
Fitbit rose from 3.7 percent to 5.5. Once focused on dedicated fitness trackers, the company's Ionic and Versa watches have expanded functions including third-party apps and Fitbit Pay.
Another notable maker was Huawei, which leapt to 2.8 percent of the market by launching the Huawei Watch GT.
Companies losing out in the quarter included imoo, Amazfit, Fossil, and Garmin. While Garmin is focused primarily on hardcore fitness, sports, and outdoors enthusiasts, the rest are trying to cater to a general market.
In disclosing quarterly wearables numbers on Tuesday, Apple kept precise Watch sales a secret as usual. It did say that wearable sales rose 50 percent year-over-year, and that roughly three-quarters of Watches were sold to people new to the hardware. Overall "Wearables, Home, and Accessories" revenue rose from $3.94 billion to $5.1 billion, though that includes AirPods, Beats products, Apple TVs, and the HomePod, among other things.
Comments
Given the lack of popularity of HomePod & and Apple TV, I think one cans safely assume the increased revenue in this category is solely due to Apple Watch and AirPods (maybe Beats).
By comparison, I’m sure HomePod’s numbers are low — but it is the best selling smart speaker over $200. Those little Dots and Echos sell well now, but they will be keeping the Android tablets and two-year-old Android phones company in the drawers and recycling bins in due course — I’ve already seen a “privacy backlash” happening where people are hesitant to buy them because of the many stories about (in particular) Amazon’s abuse of privacy.
So in point of fact the HomePod is the world’s most popular HIGH-QUALITY smart speaker. But quality doesn’t appear to matter to some folks ... ahem ...
Fitbit is making knockoff Apple Watch hardware and Samsung is (surprisingly) only making knockoff Apple Watch software.
People don't wear HomePods in their ears so their success is less obvious.
I do think Apple TV needs more love and Arcade may be the first real dive into serious gaming. With exclusive games that take advantage of Apple Hardware, I'd love to see a new Apple TV with an A12x chip, which is equivalent to gaming consoles. And maybe Apple TV+ will grow the platform. Let's hope a new kick-ass version is released this year along with Arcade and TV+.
FYI 90% of the time I'm using it with my ATV. When I play music on it, I'm usually operating it via an iOS device's Music UI rather than spoken commands only. The only verbal commands I use are for radio station playback, or for HomeKit scenes. So the all the ballyhoo about it is irrelevant from this perspective.
(it’s because she’s very cheap)
1. The watch industry is in a disruptive phase, with technology companies having the upper hand over traditional watch makers. Thus we see Fossil and other watch manufacturers losing out to the disrupters and the smaller tech participants losing out to the larger ones who can be more agile and have larger R&D budgets. That’s market share that will keep coming until the disruptive phase plays out. At that point the market will be truly segmented between traditional watches and smartwatches, likely with the latter taking a considerable majority market share. Apple is benefiting from this as well, maybe even the driving force behind the disruption at this stage of the game.
2. Samsung, Hauwei, Fitbit, et al play in a segment of the market where they aren’t in direct competition with Apple. That being the mobile market outside of iOS; meaning, they have access to the Android market without needing to compete with Apple on features or capabilities, but only indirectly for consumers’ wallets. And even then, a consumer has to first move over to iOS before considering an Apple Watch. Anyone who is happy with Android is available to Samsung, etc, without Apple having a shot at their smartwatch purchase.
Given these factors the market share discussion cannot yet be one of this company beating, or gaining on, that company. In a shifting and expanding market all players get a ticket for the ride.
It's kinda the situation where, if ya gotta ask the question, ya won't understand the answer.