Apple's Wearables Shipments Increasing, but Losing Market Share to Smaller Competitors

[k1im]

Considered AW but all I want is a fitness tracker, the tracker with long battery life and no issues synchronizing all the activités and workouts, taking and tracking health measures, etc.

So I believe Apple could make one. As good as all these bands get, they don’t fully synchronize with iPhone and Apple Health

 

[FNH15]

2 issues- price and ecosystem.

There are only so many iPhone users. Anyone with Android is out until Apple lets the watch function without being tied to an iPhone.

And it is more expensive than many of those competitors. Not saying it's not worth the price for all it can do, but no one is going to jump through hoops to get an iPhone who doesnt have one, and then spend more on the watch too. Not when you can get a Mi Watch or other Chinese brand for like $150 US



Samsung and Xiaomi are 1/4 the market. Not exactly true. Samsung sells a lot of watches and Tizen isnt bad. Now that Samsung is teaming with Google for wearables and the OS, that could even go up.

Not everyone needs apps on their wrists and want a basic smartwatch with some fitness stuff. Apple offering no lower more basic cheaper option, other than buy an older slower smaller display model, is their problem really (same with the Apple TV trying to compete with set top boxes)

But they don’t compete in the same bracket.

Mercedes doesn’t compete with Kia. They compete with BMW / Audi. Competitors need to rise to Apple’s level in terms of build quality, design, and integration. Apple’s never chased market share - the one time they did in the 90s with the clones nearly bankrupted them…

 

[Spock]

Apple Watch needs to come to Android. Health is bigger than lock-in.

Or at least let it sync health data with an iPad.

 

[akidokraja]

I'll buy an Apple Watch if it has at least a week of battery life.

Finally someone with some senses. One person here said “I would rather be charging every night than every month”. 😂🤦‍♂️

 

[carrrrrlos]

Somewhere out there - at a coffee shop, there is someone on a phone call with their iPhone, wearing AirPods, and a Apple Watch, drawing on their iPad with an Apple Pencil, checking email on their Macbook, which fits in a bag or backpack that contains an AirTag. Oh wait that’s me.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Finally someone with some senses. One person here said “I would rather be charging every night than every month”. 😂🤦‍♂️

While I'd certainly love a longer battery life, the honest truth is that the current battery life doesn't cause me any headache. Battery lasts longer than a day, and I use the AW quite a lot, including daily workout sessions (up to 3 sessions, reaching 3 to 4 hours within a day). Considering all that the Watch does, charging it at night (and it doesn't actually take long to fully charge, maybe 90 minutes?) it seriously ain't a problem.

 

[Yokon54]

2 issues- price and ecosystem.

There are only so many iPhone users. Anyone with Android is out until Apple lets the watch function without being tied to an iPhone.

And it is more expensive than many of those competitors. Not saying it's not worth the price for all it can do, but no one is going to jump through hoops to get an iPhone who doesnt have one, and then spend more on the watch too. Not when you can get a Mi Watch or other Chinese brand for like $150 US



Samsung and Xiaomi are 1/4 the market. Not exactly true. Samsung sells a lot of watches and Tizen isnt bad. Now that Samsung is teaming with Google for wearables and the OS, that could even go up.

Not everyone needs apps on their wrists and want a basic smartwatch with some fitness stuff. Apple offering no lower more basic cheaper option, other than buy an older slower smaller display model, is their problem really (same with the Apple TV trying to compete with set top boxes)

Wrong, as usual from the “market share” critics. They are shipping more units. The market share “decline” is a result of a larger pie. Apple’s dominance is increasing, despite a lower share.

The cheap trash commands at least 40% of this market and people new to smartwatches still aspire to have the superior Apple product when they can afford one.

 

[bgraham]

Two things I really wanted to buy from Apple but didn't:
Apple Watch: poor battery life. Now I'm wearing a sport band which only needs to be charged twice a month
Homepod: poor connectivity.

This. I have a Series 6 and I only probably wear it 2-3 times a week at this point. My life is too busy and it provides such little utility to me most days that it's rarely worth charging every single day.

 

[bgraham]

While I'd certainly love a longer battery life, the honest truth is that the current battery life doesn't cause me any headache. Battery lasts longer than a day, and I use the AW quite a lot, including daily workout sessions (up to 3 sessions, reaching 3 to 4 hours within a day). Considering all that the Watch does, charging it at night (and it doesn't actually take long to fully charge, maybe 90 minutes?) it seriously ain't a problem.

The Watch's workout tracking is pretty poor, and really not much better than what my iPhone can do.

 

[jmgregory1]

One thing with the Watch that may be effecting sales (not that Apple is hurting for sales of the Watch) is the fact that Apple isn’t offering must-have features or significant physical changes to the Watch each year.

With the iPhone, at least from my own personal experiences, we’re always passing down previous generation models to family members (our kids or our parents) in part because they have wanted some feature on the iPhone that their two or three year old iPhone doesn’t have (or they’ve beaten the device so hard it needs to be upgraded), which makes it easier to justify upgrading every year or two.

Also, because the Watch doesn’t get the same kind of hard daily use as an iPhone, my kids with series 3 Watches aren’t asking for upgrades, and I haven’t even been tempted to upgrade from my series 5 Nike Watch, given the 6 was such a small incremental upgrade.

If I had to guess, if the new series 7 does indeed shift to the new flat sided form factor, Apple will get huge numbers of people upgrading - I’ll be one of them. And with the typical reduced price on previous year models, that will open up more consumers who were waiting for a certain low price point to buy.

It’s definitely one of those categories with lots of upside for Apple.

 

[yaxomoxay]

This. I have a Series 6 and I only probably wear it 2-3 times a week at this point. My life is too busy and it provides such little utility to me most days that it's rarely worth charging every single day.

Not to be snarky, but I truly don't understand. Your life is so busy that you can't remove the thing from your wrist and lay it (not even plug it!) on the charger before going to bed?

 

[yaxomoxay]

The Watch's workout tracking is pretty poor, and really not much better than what my iPhone can do.

That's utter crap. The workout tracking is quite impressive under all circumstances, especially for a multi-purpose item. Show me your BPM's with your iPhone while running...

 

[Michael Scrip]

There are only so many iPhone users.

That's true.

But... there are a billion iPhones out in the world.

Apple Watch is still nowhere near saturation in that market.

Anyone with Android is out until Apple lets the watch function without being tied to an iPhone.

Sure... maybe someday Apple could make a standalone Apple Watch for the 3 billion Android devices out in the world. But Apple probably isn't thinking about that.

And you have to consider that a lot of those 3 billion Android devices are ultra-cheap smartphones used by people in 3rd-world countries. So I'm not sure a premium Apple smartwatch will be desirable to most of those users.

You're right... those users are probably better served by a cheaper Chinese smartwatch or fitness tracker.

 

[Localcelebrity]

Honestly: Good.

The wireless headphone market has gotten really competitive, which will hopefully foster rapid innovation from Apple and a diverse product line.

Hopefully, this will push them down-market a little as far as pricing as well.

I would love to see a future where a dedicated "low-end" Apple Watch is created, possibly even for families/kids as they seen interested in.

 

[tonie walker]

the money is on the watch bands 😛

 

[W2u7Yw4HaD]

Two things I really wanted to buy from Apple but didn't:
Apple Watch: poor battery life. Now I'm wearing a sport band which only needs to be charged twice a month
Homepod: poor connectivity.

As if it's an issue to charge it overnight every day... I never slept with my mechanical watch at night either...

Homepod: ok, so I didn't buy in also since it won't run spotify natively.. had they allowed all the addon apps like sonos/others it would have better uptake for sure..

 

[Duane Martin]

Two things I really wanted to buy from Apple but didn't:
Apple Watch: poor battery life. Now I'm wearing a sport band which only needs to be charged twice a month
Homepod: poor connectivity.

I have a piece of string tied around my wrist which I never have to charge and it does only a little less than your sport band.

Before you start calling foul it is equally fair me comparing a piece of string to your sport band as you comparing your sport band to an Apple Watch. As to HomePod and poor connectivity, well, connectivity keeps growing outside the Apple ecosystem. A product that gains capabilities after purchase works for me.

By the way, the piece of string is 100% accurate at indicating when it is raining while I am outside.

 

[gaximus]

This. I have a Series 6 and I only probably wear it 2-3 times a week at this point. My life is too busy and it provides such little utility to me most days that it's rarely worth charging every single day.

You should try utilizing it to help with the busy life. I'm also quite busy, and having the watch to quickly dismiss and delete junk emails, and quick replying to messages, quickly seeing stock prices, getting notifications about upcoming meetings has made my life less chaotic. And honestly increases my phones battery life by quite a bit not having to pull it out of my pocket and check it for every buzz I get.

 

[yaxomoxay]

You should try utilizing it to help with the busy life. I'm also quite busy, and having the watch to quickly dismiss and delete junk emails, and quick replying to messages, quickly seeing stock prices, getting notifications about upcoming meetings has made my life less chaotic. And honestly increases my phones battery life by quite a bit not having to pull it out of my pocket and check it for every buzz I get.

Agreed. I actually removed most notifications from the AW because I don't want to be distracted, which means that I now pay attention only to those notifications that are a priority (plus, fitness notifications), which in turn made my life much less hectic and I am way more productive. In addition... the quick find my iPhone ping probably saved me more time than anything else 😛

 

[CarpalMac]

I wouldn’t call the rest competitors, any more than I consider a fire tablet an iPad competitor. Apple probably faces more ”competition” from older generations of their products than anywhere else in the market.

In the end, there is no smartwatch market, only an apple watch market.

Surely a competing product is one that is bought instead of another? It doesn't have to offer the exact same level of functionality, especially if it is half the price.

 

[neutrino23]

As stated above the addressable market is getting larger so even though AW sales are up quite a bit the share is down. I’m now seeing a barrage of ads for things that look like an AW but sell for $50. These guys are just flooding the zone with crap.

 

[jz0309]

So the wearables market is growing, more competition, different devices, more customers are seeing benefits … this is actually GREAT news…

 

[brendu]

Finally someone with some senses. One person here said “I would rather be charging every night than every month”. 😂🤦‍♂️

I think it’s nonsensical to complain about charging one device every day while not caring that we do the exact same thing for at least one and often multiple other devices. Would longer battery life be better? Of course. Does charging it every night (or just for an hour every evening honestly) negate the benefits it provides? Not at all.

 

[jz0309]

As stated above the addressable market is getting larger so even though AW sales are up quite a bit the share is down. I’m now seeing a barrage of ads for things that look like an AW but sell for $50. These guys are just flooding the zone with crap.

And sooner or later those folks with these “crap” devices will want to do more than they can today with those devices and start looking at an Apple Watch…

 

[jz0309]

Finally someone with some senses. One person here said “I would rather be charging every night than every month”. 😂🤦‍♂️

Do you own an AW? I have for over 5 years and I’d rather be charging every night than having to think about when to charge…
But, you’re entitled to you opinion