Apple Watch Loses Market Share as Android Wear Grows in Popularity

[MacRumors]

The latest data from research firm Strategy Analytics reveals that Apple Watch sales totaled an estimated 2.2 million in the first quarter.

Apple Watch remains the most popular smartwatch, but its market share declined to 52.4-percent compared to 63-percent in the previous quarter.

Strategy Analytics cites increasing competition from Android Wear rivals such as LG and Motorola as one reason for the Apple Watch ceding market share:

"We estimate Apple Watch shipped 2.2 million units and captured 52 percent smartwatch marketshare worldwide in Q1 2016, dipping from 63 percent share in Q4 2015," said Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics. "Samsung shipped 0.6 million smartwatches, capturing 14 percent marketshare worldwide for second position. Apple Watch and Samsung Gear models are expanding fast across dozens of countries, but competition from LG, Motorola and others is ramping up fast."

Nevertheless, Apple still maintains a comfortable lead in the smartwatch market, with its wrist-worn sales outpacing all other competitors combined. Samsung trailed in second place with only 600,000 shipments, for instance, while all other vendors shipped a combined 1.4 million units in the quarter.

Global smartwatch shipments grew 223-percent annually to reach 4.2 million units in the first quarter of 2016, up from 1.3 million in the year-ago quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Growth was driven by demand for Apple, Android Wear, and Tizen models across North America, Western Europe, and Asia.

Apple does not disclose Watch sales in its quarterly earning results, instead grouping the device under its Other Products category alongside iPods, Apple TVs, Beats Electronics, and accessories. Strategy Analytics estimates, however, place total Apple Watch sales at nearly 16 million since its April 2015 launch.

Strategy Analytics estimated that Apple Watch sales totaled 4 million during its launch quarter, allowing it to capture an impressive 75.5-percent market share, followed by estimated sales of 4.5 million in the third quarter. By the fourth quarter, encompassing the busy holiday shopping season, the firm said Apple Watch market share had dropped to 63-percent based on 5.1 million sales.

On April 24, the Apple Watch celebrated its one-year anniversary in the U.S. and other first wave launch countries. Many consumers are now anxiously anticipating the Apple Watch 2, which is expected to debut in the second half of 2016 and could feature a FaceTime camera, expanded Wi-Fi abilities, and cellular connectivity. New bands, finishes, and models are always a possibility as well.

Article Link: Apple Watch Loses Market Share as Android Wear Grows in Popularity

 

[Steve121178]

Make it cheaper.

Problem solved.

 

[617aircav]

Make it cheaper.

Problem solved.

Make it faster.
Throw in gps.

 

[Crosscreek]

Needs some new bands and an event.

 

[argentum47]

Make it rounded.
Problem solved.

 

[geoff5093]

What Android Wear has going for it is it can run on many different style of watches. Not everyone wants a calculator-watch looking rectangle on their wrist, some may want a more traditional round watch, some may want a robust Casio-style watch, some may want to spend $50 while others may want a $1k watch made by a known watch company. Android Wear runs on all of them.

 

[gpat]

Start pricing from $249 and make it compatible with Android. Also longer battery life and GPS.
Android Wear eradicated.

 

[Phil A.]

These figures are completely meaningless because Apple don't release sales figures for the watch -

all this is saying is this quarter's made up figure is a lower percentage of the total market than last quarter's made up figure. The total market figure is probably made up too due to the lack of hard numbers from Apple

 

[Shalev]

Sport model - starts at 199 for 38 and 249 for 42
steinless - states at 349 for 38 and 449 for 42

29 silicon and nylon bands
69 all leather bands
119 stainless bands

thats it.

 

[Loge]

Needs new faces, and/or support for third party faces.

 

[Envested]

I think it's more due to the fact that wireless carriers are able to push them heavily on monthly installments. I've seen it so many times. Customers don't even really want it and sales drops saying " it's only 3 bucks a month". Cool I'll take three and give them to my grandchildren. Why is Apple Watch sport not sold in wireless stores. I'm sure they would have much more exposure.

 

[RedOrchestra]

Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to an article on Apple Watches and iPad Pro 12.9" - both are niche products and I never expect the sales numbers to be anything but low.

 

[MacCubed]

The thing about these statistics is that the products they measure are under a broad spectrum. In this case, the statistics are comparing Android Wear to the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch is a single device, while Android Wear can encompass 100+ devices. It is the same thing with Android phones, compares the Android OS to iPhones. This includes the cheap $20 Android phones too.

 

[jmgregory1]

Apple doesn't care about market share. They care about profitability and roping consumers into their eco-system, which almost ensures long-term profitability (as long as they don't start selling products for a loss). Frankly, I can't imagine anyone at Apple saying in meetings, we need to be the biggest company in the world or have the highest market share on every item we produce.

The press and financial analysts try to make it an Apple against the everyone else scenario, which just is not how Apple has ever operated. If they make good products and offer good services, and customers like, buy and use them, then as long as they're selling things for a profit, the results will be great for Apple and their shareholders and we'll continue to get good products from them.

 

[2ilent8cho]

Make it cheaper.

Problem solved.

They did, it had a price drop last month.

 

[Mostafatsaad]

The latest data from research firm Strategy Analytics reveals that Apple Watch sales totaled an estimated 2.2 million in the first quarter.

Apple Watch remains the most popular smartwatch, but its market share declined to 52.4-percent compared to 63-percent in the previous quarter.

Strategy Analytics cites increasing competition from Android Wear rivals such as LG and Motorola as one reason for the Apple Watch ceding market share:Nevertheless, Apple still maintains a comfortable lead in the smartwatch market, with its wrist-worn sales outpacing all other competitors combined. Samsung trailed in second place with only 600,000 shipments, for instance, while all other vendors shipped a combined 1.4 million units in the quarter.

Global smartwatch shipments grew 223-percent annually to reach 4.2 million units in the first quarter of 2016, up from 1.3 million in the year-ago quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Growth was driven by demand for Apple, Android Wear, and Tizen models across North America, Western Europe, and Asia.

Apple does not disclose Watch sales in its quarterly earning results, instead grouping the device under its Other Products category alongside iPods, Apple TVs, Beats Electronics, and accessories. Strategy Analytics estimates, however, place total Apple Watch sales at nearly 16 million since its April 2015 launch.

Strategy Analytics estimated that Apple Watch sales totaled 4 million during its launch quarter, allowing it to capture an impressive 75.5-percent market share, followed by estimated sales of 4.5 million in the third quarter. By the fourth quarter, encompassing the busy holiday shopping season, the firm said Apple Watch market share had dropped to 63-percent based on 5.1 million sales.

On April 24, the Apple Watch celebrated its one-year anniversary in the U.S. and other first wave launch countries. Many consumers are now anxiously anticipating the Apple Watch 2, which is expected to debut in the second half of 2016 and could feature a FaceTime camera, expanded Wi-Fi abilities, and cellular connectivity. New bands, finishes, and models are always a possibility as well.

Article Link: Apple Watch Loses Market Share as Android Wear Grows in Popularity

[doublepost=1461848536][/doublepost]I disagree, Apple Watches are every where, I haven't seen a single Android Wear anywhere except for two stores that have it on sale.

 

[Gorms]

How, realistically, are Apple losing market share to Android here? Bearing in mind that at the moment the Watch is more like an accompanying device for your iPhone and your entire market is dedicated to upselling to existing iPhone users? Android isn't realistically stealing Apple Watch customers here and due to Apple's love of lock down, Android wearables are struggling to compete on features on iOS.

A less clickbait title might be "Sales of wearables begins to increase on other platforms, as expected Apple sells less Watches in Feb than at Christmas".

 

[duffman9000]

Make it cheaper.

Problem solved.

I don't know if price is the biggest problem. I just spent almost 800 (after sale discount) on a new watch. Yes, it's male jewelry, but what else do we have? Man (wizard) rings? No thanks lol.

For me there are other major downsides. The battery life doesn't bother me if I'm local. If I travel it's another damn adapter to carry. The SoC in the watch is 1st gen and I learned my lesson on buying 1st gen anything. The day will come that a watchOS update degrades the performance of the watch. I expect a watch to last many years. I don't trust Apple pushing me an update 2 years from now that says it will improve performance only to see the opposite.

Recent articles elsewhere talk about wearing the watch for one year. If most of the gripes are fixed with the next release I may take another look.

 

[iapplelove]

Anyone else just not into wearables yet?

 

[spiderman0616]

I love how when Apple releases a wearable, the narrative is "Wearables are useless. Nobody wants wearables. Just use your phone!", but with Android wearables it's complete opposite. I've never once seen an "Android Wear is a dud." story in the tech media, much less a "Nobody needs Android on their wrist" story. Not once. And now that wearables are catching on a bit, it's all about how Android Wear is bad for Apple Watch.

By the tech media's estimate, no wearable Apple makes now or in the future has a point because nobody wants a tiny computer on their wrist. At the same time, Apple better catch up on market share in wearables because here comes Android!

Apple can never win in the PR game, because there's too much money in bashing them. This site is just as guilty of it as anywhere else.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

A smaller piece (percentage) of a bigger pie isn't necessarily a bad thing.

or...

100% of nothing is still nothing, but 70% of 10,000,000 is 7,000,000.

 

[LordQ]

Make it waterproof and iPhone-free.

Problem solved.

 

[MacDarcy]

Apple hasn't really Wowed anyone since Steve Jobs passing. It's obvious now that something is missing. Apple is slow to update Macs and when they do, it's barely incremental. Even their star product, the iPhone is now suffering declining sales for lack of innovation. And it seems it will continue to suffer as the iPhone 7 looks to be a minor update and not the radical redesign usually reserved for the non S models. Cook is a numbers man. Not an innovator like Steve. And now the numbers are declining. Apple needs a true visionary at its helm again.

 

[Chastepe]

I own an LG Urbane smartwatch and it's fantastic so far.

 

[CurtisCalderon]

... If they make good products and offer good services, and customers like, buy and use them, then as long as they're selling things for a profit, the results will be great for Apple and their shareholders and we'll continue to get good products from them.

The key here is offer good products and services. I'm not saying their stuff is bad, but for the last few years I've had more crashes on phones, iPads and computers than ever before. This is the first time I'm considering going for a non-apple product, the Samsung Gear S2 classic. I would have never thought twice about it, but times have changed. I have a 2012 macbook pro which I would have upgraded in 2013 had they made better expansion/upgrade options for AFTER the purchase. I can see why Apple is starting to slip in all their products. Most of my friends who use Apple are professionals and feel the same way. They used to upgrad about every other year, some every year. Most of them are still with their Macbook Pro 2012 and some with their iPhone 5s's. Apple adding colors and other silly options that truly don't affect performance doesn't do much for me. Anyhow, my next purchase and possibly future ones that would have been Apple revenue is now not. I see this for lots of people now who have been die hard Apple fans for 20+ years. They aren't taking care of the professionals and not innovating with things that really help people. Unless they change, which they most likely won't under Cook and the others like Ivy who seemed more concerned about their own ego than innovations, they will go the way of Microsoft. I could be wrong cause even on a bad quarter they profited 10 billion. THat's more than I profited last quarter....