Apple Watch remains the best-selling smartwatch worldwide, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics. The smartwatch is doing well as a whole, shipping 12 million units globally from April to June this year, up 44 percent from the same period in 2018. Steven Waltzer, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said smartwatch growth “continues to soar as consumers increasingly accessorize their smartphones with fitness-led wearables.”
Apple was responsible for 5.7 million smartwatches or almost half of all those units not as impressive as its 9.2 million Watch shipments for the last quarter of 2018, but enough to see its marketshare grow from 44 percent in the same quarter last year to 46 percent. Samsung comes at a distant second, shipping 2 million smartwatches worldwide. Even though that’s less than half of Apple’s shipments, it’s still double the company’s 0.9 million shipments a year ago, enough for its marketshare to jump from 11 percent to 16 percent this past year.
“Smartwatches, as always, will still tell you the time, but will move deeper into health and fitness and connect with multiple applications and systems,” said Ramon T. Llamas, a research director at IDC, in a recent press release. The firm says that other devices with operating systems, including Android and WearOS, will also push growth in the smartwatch market. Another aspect that will lead to wearables growth is the demand for ear-worn devices. The firm says these devices will be enticing to customers who suffer from hearing loss.
