Apple Watch Drops to Just 5% Share of Wearables Market as Basic Fitness Trackers 'Reign Supreme'

[840quadra]

My Garmin Vivoactive costs less than half the price, has 3 weeks of battery life and gives me all notifications and health measure, plus the screen is on all the time. How can you beat that?

That is a great example of a use case that fits yourself and like minded individuals.

I like being able to quickly answer or make calls, operate my home kit devices, write responses to texts, and control my iphones camera for stable tripod shots. It only lasts me 2 days on battery, but I don't wear watches while I sleep, so it charges at night.

Two different people, two different use cases. I personally love choice, and hope this market grows.

 

[johnnygee]

Always makes me chuckle inside when I see tools wearing this atrocity. I love the ceramic 1000$ watch made of only the finest recycled toilet bowls. Victims lol

You must run with a rich crowd. When I travel, I've only seen people wearing the Apple Watch Spports Edition or the Gear S2.
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Cost is a big factor of course. I haven't had the need for it but if I did the price matters. Otherwise no thanks.

$269 for a 38mm sport watch is "too expensive"? It's cheaper than a Casio G-shock.

 

[trifid]

Apple watch competes with Fitbit and is losing, plain and simple.

Here's my use case: gift to mom, Fitbit which costs $150. Apple watch lost the sale.

Why? Because Apple watch does not excel at a single use case. Fitbit excels at the fitness use case. Easy to use, no battery worries and practical.

Fitbit is an appliance while Apple watch is not, it tries to do smartphone stuff but half-baked.

 

[Nick11Mac]

You must run with a rich crowd. When I travel, I've only seen people wearing the Apple Watch Spports Edition or the Gear S2.
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$269 for a 38mm sport watch is "too expensive"? It's cheaper than a Casio G-shock.

That's the low end price of course. Whether one has a real need for this watch it is important to a person watching their money.

 

[Rob_2811]

It's not just series 2. I know five people who snagged series 0 watches at more than half off as soon as the new ones were announced.

Either way they are going to have to move a lot of them to get back into growth.

 

[johnnygee]

I have literally NEVER seen anyone wearing one of these in public, and I live in a major city. I called this thing the "iFlop" from the beginning. I mean, it's just such a dumb product. Might as well sell the "Apple Shoe" or the "Apple Toothbrush". A dumb product that doesn't serve any need in the marketplace.

I flew cross country two weeks ago by airline and I was surprised by the number of people wearing the Apple watch. So much for anecdotal evidence, eh?

Be sure to notify me when your Fitbit or Seamaster displays connecting gate information, the number of minutes to your connection, and your boarding pass, will you?

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

Um, yeah. The xiaomi fitband 1s is under $15 now. Of course basic wearables are going to have more "market share" if you are going to lump a $500 smartwatch with a $15 wearable.

 

[Rob_2811]

Um, yeah. The xiaomi fitband 1s is under $15 now. Of course basic wearables are going to have more "market share" if you are going to lump a $500 smartwatch with a $15 wearable.

Doesn't explain the more than seventy percent decrease in Apple Watch sales year on year does it?

 

[satchmo]

You must run with a rich crowd. When I travel, I've only seen people wearing the Apple Watch Spports Edition or the Gear S2.
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$269 for a 38mm sport watch is "too expensive"? It's cheaper than a Casio G-shock.

Maybe if this was the price for a 42mm Aluminium series 2 model, they'd sell much more.

 

[blSwagger]

I bought the FitBit Charge 2 to replace my Charge HR for $129. I couldn't stomach spending $200+ on a disposable watch that will be outdated in a year or two. I totally get why someone would buy the Apple Watch though. Everyone has different budgets and priorities.

 

[oopsroger]

While I loath the new mac and iPhone, and hence will not buy either, I do like my AW S2. Very solid fitness tracker and timepiece.

 

[thequietaussie]

And you miss the point. A $100 fitbit is going to have higher market share than a $300+ avg price Apple Watch, so this isn't news. It has nothing to do with bias, it's that the headline is simply a "no $h!t sherlock". A more useful comparison would be a breakdown of how it compares to similarly priced smartwatches, not overall market share where cheaper alternatives always reign supreme.

This isn't a comparison of the devices themselves to make a purchasing decision, so "only one watch is going to be on my wrist" is a moot point.

"A $100 Android smartphone is going to have a higher market share than an $800 iPhone, so this isn't news."

Except, that isn't true now, is it?

 

[DevNull0]

I flew cross country two weeks ago by airline and I was surprised by the number of people wearing the Apple watch. So much for anecdotal evidence, eh?

I was at a dinner theatre a few months ago and saw a husband and wife wearing matching ones. Only time I've ever seen one in the wild. Given the sales estimates (4 million in a quarter last year, 1 million in a quarter this year), I'd say that sounds about right.
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In other news, $200-$500 windows laptops outsell $2400 Retina MacBook Pro.

It must be so nice to make up stuff and pretend it supports your point.

Name *any* windows laptop in the $200-500 range that outsells the $2400 rMBP in unit sales (that is not in dollars, but actual number of units sold). And provide a citation.

 

[lkmd]

This is the dumbest report . Fitbit is on the verge of bankruptcy. I smell a short push here. Maybe we should report to SEC.

While the Apple Watch remains the world's best selling smartwatch, the latest data from market research firm IDC reveals basic wearables "reign supreme" as consumers gravitate towards simple, dedicated fitness devices--which also typically cost less than the Apple Watch and other smartwatches.

Shipments in millions (Source: IDC)​

Basic wearables accounted for 85% of the market and experienced double-digit growth in the third quarter, according to IDC. Fitbit remained the leader with 23% market share, up from 21.4% a year ago, on the strength of its new Charge 2 fitness tracker. Fitbit shipped an estimated 5.3 million wearables in the quarter.

Xiaomi trailed in second as its $14.99 Mi Band is priced well below any competing wearables, allowing the Chinese company to capture 16.5% market share based on an estimated 3.8 million shipments in the quarter. Xiaomi's market share remained virtually unchanged from 16.4% a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Apple Watch captured just a 4.9% share of the broader wearables market in the quarter based on an estimated 1.1 million shipments, according to IDC. Comparatively, in the year-ago quarter, Apple had an estimated 3.9 million Apple Watch shipments for a much higher 17.5% market share.IDC attributed Apple's decline in the third quarter to an "aging lineup" and an "unintuitive user interface." Apple addressed those concerns with Apple Watch Series 2, but the second-generation models launched in mid-September and therefore did not have a full impact on the third quarter.

Apple does not officially disclose Apple Watch sales, instead grouping the device under its "Other Products" category in earnings results.

Article Link: Apple Watch Drops to Just 5% Share of Wearables Market as Basic Fitness Trackers 'Reign Supreme'[/QUOTE]

 

[EightyTwenty]

I flew cross country two weeks ago by airline and I was surprised by the number of people wearing the Apple watch. So much for anecdotal evidence, eh?

Be sure to notify me when your Fitbit or Seamaster displays connecting gate information, the number of minutes to your connection, and your boarding pass, will you?

Uh, doesn't a phone do all of those things... but much better?

 

[valanchan]

I have a Xiaomi Band 2 and my wife has an Apple Watch. They are totally different products. They just reside in the same place.

It's like comparing socks and shoes.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I have literally NEVER seen anyone wearing one of these in public, and I live in a major city. I called this thing the "iFlop" from the beginning. I mean, it's just such a dumb product. Might as well sell the "Apple Shoe" or the "Apple Toothbrush". A dumb product that doesn't serve any need in the marketplace.

Then I guess I'm an idiot because I actually want one. If I could afford one, it would be on my wrist.

 

[kdarling]

...Apple Watch has sold more than every other smart watch combined and owns the market.

It certainly owns the very specific iPhone companion watch market.

But not the general market. E.g. it's not likely that there's many Android phone owners using an Apple Watch. (I tried it for a while.)

I want Apple to have competition, since we all benefit, ...

Apple has made sure that it has no real competition in the iOS market, by keeping vital APIs to itself.

Both good models, but not in the same league as Apple Watch and its ecosystem.

Depends. If someone is into having lots of watchface choices, the Apple device is in a very limited league.

Apple is also spending many millions on its health lab for the AW, something that other companies won't/can't put this scale of R and D into.

Samsung's done a lot in the health sensor area. Remember the wrist sensor reference system they put out a year or two ago.

Google has also done a huge amount of health R&D. Their contact lens that reads glucose level is going through FDA certification, and hopefully will soon incredibly improve the lives of diabetics by removing the need for blood pricks.

PS Exciting health developments rumored for WWDC! Remember that all Apple Watches have have an as yet unused pulse oximeter built in.

Not likely, despite iFixit saying so. There's no red LED. And it would be reflectance instead of the standard and pretty accurate transmissive oximeter that shines through fingertips, earlobes, etc.

If Apple can overcome whatever challenges, regulatory, accuracy, etc., are causing them to hold back on activating, it will be a game changer

It would be neat if they could. So far, wrist IR/red reflectance oximeters have only proved good enough for personal entertainment, not for clinical usage.

especially now that Apple's heart rate monitoring was recently determined to be the most accurate in JAMA clinical test.

They only tested four popular heart trackers, and only used young healthy people, doing only treadmill exercise. Within those limits, yes it tied with the Mio Alpha overall... but had a larger spread of incorrect readings than the Mio in the important 100-160 beat range.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

Doesn't explain the more than seventy percent decrease in Apple Watch sales year on year does it?

I'll explain it: people that buy watches, are still using their first gens. It's like the iPad. I bought an ipad air when it first came out, and used it for 3 years no problems. Sold it because I do most of my browsing on my iphone now that we have the 5.5'' size. If I didn't sell it, I wouldn't have upgraded to the air 2 or pro. The Air worked fine for me.

I'm still on my 2009 MBP 17''. After swapping out for an SSD, the thing works brilliantly. Nearly as well as the brand new macbooks for basic browsing/emails.

I am perfectly content with my first gen watch, except for the fact that the S2 tracks swims now. Since I am a swimmer, this is the ONLY thing causing me to upgrade (including a $100 Best Buy gift card I have to use). If it did not track swimming, I would not be interested at all at upgrading. I could care less about the native GPS, the speed increase, or the brighter screen. It's nearly the same in daily use.

The only Apple device I see the need to upgrade nearly every year is my iphone. And even then it is not necessary. Just that I get a pretty good price for my old phones, and I use my phone more than any other computer now.

If you want people to upgrade yearly, you are going to have to introduce features that make people do that. Apple simply did not do that with the S2 for most people. And if the swim tracking features fall short, the watch is going back and I am keeping my S0.

Regardless, I don't think this study warrants concluding the demise of Apple's Watch. I myself bought a Xiaomi fitband to supplement my watch, because I don't want to mess it up when I play basketball, and so I can have a cheap band to track my sleeping. They are so cheap, I just bought 3 just for S&G.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I have a Xiaomi Band 2 and my wife has an Apple Watch. They are totally different products. They just reside in the same place.

It's like comparing socks and shoes.

You wear your watch on your foot?

 

[trifid]

You wear your watch on your foot?

I hadn't seen you post in a while, your humor was missed, welcome back

 

[OneMike]

I don't understand why these things are compared. Basic fitness-only wearables are a completely different product from Apple Watch. Most of that market is not going to buy an Apple Watch instead.

Fitness tracking is 1 of 100 Apple Watch features.

Edit: This just in - 95% of refrigerator profits not going to Apple.

Yea and for many that I know including myself. Fitness tracking is one of if not the main reasons we got an Apple Watch.

I think this is an absolute fair comparison.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

Yea and for many that I know including myself. Fitness tracking is one of if not the main reasons we got an Apple Watch.

I think this is an absolute fair comparison.

It's like comparing a cellular phone to a pager. Or a smartphone to a dumbphone.

If someone released a study one year after the launch of the iphone, and said "smartphones still only have 5% of the market", I would not blink twice.

 

[Grolubao]

That is a great example of a use case that fits yourself and like minded individuals.

I like being able to quickly answer or make calls, operate my home kit devices, write responses to texts, and control my iphones camera for stable tripod shots. It only lasts me 2 days on battery, but I don't wear watches while I sleep, so it charges at night.

Two different people, two different use cases. I personally love choice, and hope this market grows.

Sure I do get that, although I struggle in understanding how you reply to texts using your watch. Isn't it really easier to just grab your phone and do those tasks?

 

[2IS]

i can understand why this is honestly. it is a premium device.

Ive had my apple watch for almost a month and I'm quite impressed so far.

A premium device with basic features.