Apple's share of the wearables market shrinks amid competition from Xiaomi, Huawei & Samsu...
Apple maintained clear control of the global wearables market in the March quarter, but saw its share erode in the face of giants from China and Korea.
Apple is estimated to have sold 12.8 million units, giving it 25.8% marketshare, research firm IDC said on Thursday. Though shipments rose from 8.6 million a year ago, its share at that time was calculated at 26.8%.
In Apple's case, wearables include not just the Apple Watch but AirPods and various Beats headphones. The company has never officially shared unit numbers for any of those products -- there are however alternate means of gauging performance, such as third-party retailers.
China's Xiaomi ranked a distant second in Q1 2019 with 6.6 million units and a 13.3% share, but that rose from 3.9 million and 12.3% in 2018. Huawei grew from 1.3 million and 4.1% to 5 million and 10%.
Normally considered Apple's chief rival worldwide, Samsung advanced from 1.7 million and 5.3% to 4.3 million and 8.7%. The Korean company has reportedly benefited from bundling accessories like Galaxy Buds with its flagship Galaxy S10 phones.
The average selling price for the Apple Watch rose from $426 to $455, IDC noted. That data wasn't dissected, but in theory Watch buyers may be seeing more value in upgrades like 4G, stainless steel, and leather or steel bands. Some might also be gravitating toward bigger screens where previously they would've chosen a smaller, cheaper size.
"Apple also seems to be employing a similar strategy in its wireless headphone lineup as the latest AirPods are now available with wireless charging and an increased ASP," IDC added.
The only wearables numbers Apple has offered for the March quarter are net "Wearables, Home and Accessories" sales of $5.1 billion. That was up from $3.9 billion in the same 2018 quarter.
Apple is estimated to have sold 12.8 million units, giving it 25.8% marketshare, research firm IDC said on Thursday. Though shipments rose from 8.6 million a year ago, its share at that time was calculated at 26.8%.
In Apple's case, wearables include not just the Apple Watch but AirPods and various Beats headphones. The company has never officially shared unit numbers for any of those products -- there are however alternate means of gauging performance, such as third-party retailers.
China's Xiaomi ranked a distant second in Q1 2019 with 6.6 million units and a 13.3% share, but that rose from 3.9 million and 12.3% in 2018. Huawei grew from 1.3 million and 4.1% to 5 million and 10%.
Normally considered Apple's chief rival worldwide, Samsung advanced from 1.7 million and 5.3% to 4.3 million and 8.7%. The Korean company has reportedly benefited from bundling accessories like Galaxy Buds with its flagship Galaxy S10 phones.
The average selling price for the Apple Watch rose from $426 to $455, IDC noted. That data wasn't dissected, but in theory Watch buyers may be seeing more value in upgrades like 4G, stainless steel, and leather or steel bands. Some might also be gravitating toward bigger screens where previously they would've chosen a smaller, cheaper size.
"Apple also seems to be employing a similar strategy in its wireless headphone lineup as the latest AirPods are now available with wireless charging and an increased ASP," IDC added.
The only wearables numbers Apple has offered for the March quarter are net "Wearables, Home and Accessories" sales of $5.1 billion. That was up from $3.9 billion in the same 2018 quarter.
Comments
They still think that market share equals success when Apple never did.
Anyway, what kind of market segmentation is it that lumps high end smart watches with heart monitors, budget earphones etc? Downright weird, and meaningless.
I also expect Samsung growth in this “market” is the buds, not the galaxy watch.
The future of one of these trends is doomed.
Due to the category being flooded by cheaper products.
As usual.
Comparing the Apple Watch to other junk is like comparing how many cheap bicycles vs Ferraris are sold.
As it stands now, I have to charge my watch every night—it’s part of my routine. I don’t have to think about it or remember; I just do it. If I got +/- 3 days, I would lose my routine and surely end up with a dead watch every week or two. Because remembering to do something 2-3 times a week is much harder than remembering to so something every night!
This is just another case of Apple vs. all the others. This happened with the tablet market and may repeat in the smart watch market.
Just like how the iPad is the de facto king of tablets, the Apple Watch will remain on top of the heap for a long time. I'm not talking about profitability. I'm talking about usability and relevance.
2. Apple YoY growth is actually very high from 8.6 millions (IDC number) to 12.8 millions, that's 4.2 millions increase.
3. Huawei has the biggest percentage YoY growth at 282.2% but in reality only ship 5 millions, far below Apple.
4. In conclusion: people are very satisfied with their Apple 4, never read just the headlines, and IDC is seldom accurate.
As for battery life, I wear my Gold Aluminum Series 3 GPS+Cell WATCH 24/7 round the clock due to me using sleep apps and only need to charge it off my wrist for only one or two early evening hours to get it back to 100%. Then every morning I top it off for no more than a half or full hour at most while making breakfast or shaving/showering. That routine seems plenty convenient to me. I use Theatre mode most of the time and don’t use notifications nor sound ever. Don’t use the cell option. Wanted 16GB storage. Do run Runtastic & Activity exercise apps on it every day.
Really looking forward to upgrading to Series 5 this Fall. Love the Gold Aluminum Pink Sand Sport Loop. Will buy the 44mm GPS+Cell model just to keep my options open for possible future Cell use.