Samsung Narrowing Gap With Apple Watch as Apple's Shipments Fall

[falainber]

You are dead on correct. This data does not tell the whole story. I can't remember the last time I have seen Samsung watch on someone. Not they suck. Just saying that Apple Watches are everywhere.

Just try traveling outside US. In most countries you won't see either iPhones or Apple watches.

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

Samsung and the others are little more than privacy invading garbage for your wrist.

 

[ahurst]

Heck, even the Series 4 is still good enough to wear nowadays. It’s sort of the same problem with the iPads. Yes, the newer ones are better but the old ones are just as snappy (2018 Pros and up).

We have an iPad Air 2 (first introduced in 2014) and it still runs the latest iOS and most apps smoothly. Apart from mild backlight issue there's no compelling reason to replace it!

 

[Abazigal]

Frankly, I don't see anything to worry about.

Android smartphone users are not going to get apple watches, just as most iPhone users are going to get apple watches, because that's what offers the most functionality.

Right now, Apple is estimated to have over 1 billion active iPhone users, but only about 100 million Apple Watch users. This means that it's perfectly fine that people are not upgrading their apple watches as often, or that new watches don't seem to offer that much added functionality over older models. Right now, Apple's key goal is to market to the remaining 90% of their iPhone user base who don't yet have apple watches, and get them to wear one.

Apple has a huge untapped market that frankly, the rest of the competition simply won't be able to leverage on and I really wouldn't lose too much sleep about the state of the competition, good, bad or otherwise.

 

[nfl46]

We have an iPad Air 2 (first introduced in 2014) and it still runs the latest iOS and most apps smoothly. Apart from mild backlight issue there's no compelling reason to replace it!

Yep, my point exactly. The older iPads still run fine, so for some it doesn’t even warrant an upgrade if you’re doing basic stuff on it.

 

[QuarterSwede]

FWIW... I think there really needs to be something like the Watch SE but with always-on display. To get the always on display you have to spend $400. That's more than most people are willing to lay out. Yet after having a Watch 3, which I did love, I would not get another watch without always-on because they really don't activate every time you want them to.

There is a big gap in Apple's watch lineup - something affordable yet highly functional as a watch.

That said, I suspect most of the watches that aren't made by Apple are e-waste.

I just got a series 7 because my 4 cracked all the way from top to bottom (I wish they made a sport resistant model). I’ve found that the AOD isn’t all that useful and the battery life is worse than the 4 was when new by 20%. But I never had a problem with the screen turning on when I twisted my wrist or lifted up my hand. I will say that the swipe keyboard is fantastic though.

 

[skaertus]

Said another way, apple is still the top vendor for smart watch sales even though there are cheaper alternatives.

Yes, it is. But, looking into the future, it will be hard for Apple to keep this market share at these prices if the audience expands.

 

[skaertus]

Frankly, I don't see anything to worry about.

Android smartphone users are not going to get apple watches, just as most iPhone users are going to get apple watches, because that's what offers the most functionality.

Right now, Apple is estimated to have over 1 billion active iPhone users, but only about 100 million Apple Watch users. This means that it's perfectly fine that people are not upgrading their apple watches as often, or that new watches don't seem to offer that much added functionality over older models. Right now, Apple's key goal is to market to the remaining 90% of their iPhone user base who don't yet have apple watches, and get them to wear one.

Apple has a huge untapped market that frankly, the rest of the competition simply won't be able to leverage on and I really wouldn't lose too much sleep about the state of the competition, good, bad or otherwise.

It seems what Apple is doing. Apple will lose market share in the smartwatch segment, but will still keep its sales high enough to justify the product line.

 

[scaramoosh]

I stopped wearing one as I found the watch rather useless, it makes everything harder to do and you end up just getting your phone out anyways. I guess if you really care about your heart rate it's for you... but I don't.

 

[svish]

Still Apple leads by a very healthy margin! Samsung with its offers during the pre order period for its new flagships might be able to sell more watches.

 

[I7guy]

Yes, it is. But, looking into the future, it will be hard for Apple to keep this market share at these prices if the audience expands.

Yes. Maybe or maybe not, as in everything else, the past is no guarantee of the future...and I'm not good at absolute predictions of the future. Good bets, some good hits sure. In other words, both our musings are just conjecture at this point.

 

[gabino1962]

Never heard of:

Imoo?
Amazfit? (that's a terrible name!)

I used to have FitBit Charge 2. I gave it to my wife, who uses it for heart rate monitoring during sleeping.

I replaced the Charge 2 with Amazfit BIP, because it was a little bit closer to a "smart watch".

I gave my Amazfit BIP to my son, who likes to see his steps, etc as well as the time. The BIP's resolution is so-so, with hundreds of face watches to use. It has a transreflective(?) display, which reflects the light (like street signs), so under the sun the display is VERY bright. I was getting approximately 30 days per charge, which was awesome! For $70 it was a decent watch--I just wanted the extra features that AW provides.

I went with AW because the BIP's weather was always HOURS behind--very frustrating! On the AW I use SIRI, Apple Pay, notifications, texting, daily alarm, exercising. I really like the features! I have an iPhone from work--so the ecosystem works for me right now.

Each person's situation is different. Some people want to stay with Apple's ecosystem, other people prefer other vendors. Prices make a huge difference to some people, like me. To each his own.

 

[gabino1962]

I stopped wearing one as I found the watch rather useless, it makes everything harder to do and you end up just getting your phone out anyways. I guess if you really care about your heart rate it's for you... but I don't.

Heart rate is important to me, so AW scores for me, personally.

 

[KindJamz]

#2 is already there. Settings, accessibility, Audio/Visual, Flash LED for alerts.

#5 .. been this way since iOS 7 or 8+, iirc

#6 messages does this. Or you mean phone? Use the contacts button on the bottom of phone app. Type a number, and it does. Or just tell Siri to "call Pizza Hut".

#8 they thought about this and other similar things. They found many social issues with the usage and effectiveness of it. They actually do spitball and test these kinds of things, even if it's not headline news.

#9 it is system wide. And 9b is way too complex and confusing. Not gonna happen. Perhaps you should be using the Notes app. Use the tools you have.

#10 also could be a negative impact to usability and productivity. Perhaps they tested this, too, and decided it was a poor experience.

#11 it's an iPhone, not an IMAX screen. The new Home Screen app widget thingies should help somewhat.


To everyone else here: Sorry for feeding the troll. I know, I know...

Why your trolling.

Flashed led. Lol. Not even close

#8 can you source that “fact”
You posted

I wild love to put icons where I want them. Home Screen does zilch

 

[I7guy]

Samsung watch has more features than iPhone.

But not necessarily more useful?

 

[urnotl33t]

Why your trolling.

Flashed led. Lol. Not even close

#8 can you source that “fact”
You posted

I wild love to put icons where I want them. Home Screen does zilch

Craig Federighi revealed Apple has considered a scheduling iMessage feature

Apple’s Craig Federighi responded to a customer’s email asking about a feature that enabled scheduling iMessages. His response went into a surprising amount of detail.

www.imore.com

Craig said so.

 

[pilotpat]

#2 is already there. Settings, accessibility, Audio/Visual, Flash LED for alerts.

#5 .. been this way since iOS 7 or 8+, iirc

#6 messages does this. Or you mean phone? Use the contacts button on the bottom of phone app. Type a number, and it does. Or just tell Siri to "call Pizza Hut".

#8 they thought about this and other similar things. They found many social issues with the usage and effectiveness of it. They actually do spitball and test these kinds of things, even if it's not headline news.

#9 it is system wide. And 9b is way too complex and confusing. Not gonna happen. Perhaps you should be using the Notes app. Use the tools you have.

#10 also could be a negative impact to usability and productivity. Perhaps they tested this, too, and decided it was a poor experience.

#11 it's an iPhone, not an IMAX screen. The new Home Screen app widget thingies should help somewhat.


To everyone else here: Sorry for feeding the troll. I know, I know...

Not to mention he went on this tirade against the Macbook pro and iPhone on a thread about samsung galaxy watch vs apple watch sales.

 

[KindJamz]

Craig Federighi revealed Apple has considered a scheduling iMessage feature

Apple’s Craig Federighi responded to a customer’s email asking about a feature that enabled scheduling iMessages. His response went into a surprising amount of detail.

www.imore.com

Craig said so.

His answer basically said it too hard to do.

 

[falainber]

But not necessarily more useful?

Apple watch has much shorter battery time and fewer features but it is more useful? In what way? More bands?

 

[I7guy]

Apple watch has much shorter battery time and fewer features but it is more useful? In what way? More bands?

"More useful" is subjective. I'm going to leave it to those who want to battle out the semantics. My original point was more features <> better automatically.

 

[anthogag]

Samsung watch has more features than iPhone.

Yeah, what can you do, charge your earbuds with your Samsung watch

 

[FlyingDutch]

Apple’s “problem” is two-fold

1. Their watches are so good, you can keep them for many years and be quite happy with them. Only reason to upgrade involves compelling must have new features.

2. The series 7 does not have compelling must have new features…

this. Samsung product is decent while Series 7 launch was a bit disappointing (in features and timings).

They should have made the SE the entry and kept the 5 in the SE slot. Still selling the 3 is nuts...

agree. Series 3 nowadays is ridiculous.

I haven’t used the AOD on my series 5 since just after I bought it. Part of the reason is the extended battery life you get by not having the screen be always-on, but the other issue is there ZERO reason to have the screen show anything when you’re wearing long-sleeve shirt/sweater/jacket, as you can tell with the attached photo of my series 5.

me too. AOD is the first thing I switch off on my Apple Watch. I need to see time and notifications when i look at the watch, not before that ?

 

[FlyingDutch]

Just try traveling outside US. In most countries you won't see either iPhones or Apple watches.

In which parallel dimension ? Here in Europe Apple Watch is very very popular, just like the iPhone.

 

[pianostar9]

This needs to happen with the ugly as mud iphones and the new hideous Macbooks.

Only when Apple sees that their 8 years behind the curve products start lacking in sales will the make changes.

Money is always the bottom line for them.

Then they'll of course show up in interviews and say they always listen to their users....mhmmm....

As to their iphones, I would like to see Apple:
1. redesign the notification center. It's ridiculous.

2. give us an LED visual for notifications in addition to sound and vibration. Allow us the change the colors of the LED based on what the notification app is.
The fine folks who like things the way they are can just turn any or all of this off and be constantly hitting the screen on their phones to see if there are any messages when the phone is on mute, much like we all have to do all day long the way it current is.

3. give us an always-on screen for the clock. On the always-on screen we should also be able to choose if we want to see if we have any notifications (the amount and the app) or if we to just want see the clock.
Once again, the people who don't like it should be able to turn it off. No more Apple forcing us to do stuff.

4. add haptic feedback to the keyboard, and make it possible to customize different intensities to your heart's content.
It's beyond crazy that you have no feedback whatsoever if you're typing and the phone is on mute. Those who are concerned with battery or simply don't like this should be able to turn it off.

5. make it possible to adjust volume for independent apps and settings and not this general thing they're doing. Separate volume control for keyboard volume, music volume, ring volume, system volume.
I, for example, would like the keyboard clicks to be much louder than they are but without it affecting the volume on the entire phone or the ring and notifications volume. It's silly of Apple to force it to be like this.

6. add suggestions from the address book as you start a phone number.
Common now Apple, this has been available for the last 15 years on Android.

7. make it possible to customize the texting app in every conceivable way. Font size, bubble size shape color etc.

8. make it possible to schedule a text message to be sent at a certain time/date. This is a basic feature. Compose your message now and schedule it to be sent when the time is right. I used to use this feature all the time when I had to text people who are in different time zones when they have to get the text at a certain time in their time zone but it's way too late for me to stay up to send the text.

9. use an OS-wide clipboard and make cut and/or copy not expire until you, the user, cleans it.
You should be able to copy text now and paste it tomorrow if you want to.
And 9b make it possible to copy multiple copy entries ready to paste any one of them by long pressing, at least the last 10 cut/copies should be possible.

10. in Mail give us the option to NOT go to the next email when you are deleting an email but to go back to the inbox. Those who want to keep things the way it is should be able to turn this feature off.

11. make it possible to move the icons on the desktop anywhere you want to.

Now you know why people still jailbreak. Here's an example (although they might not be the best) of a jailbreak tweak for each one except #6 and #10:

1. Axon
2. FlashAlert
3. Tritium
4. HapticKeys
5. VolumePanel
7. ChatUI
8. Nova
9. Copypasta
11. InvisibleWidget

To be honest, though, this discussion is only on-topic in a very broad definition of that term.

 

[rosswell]

Yes, it is. But, looking into the future, it will be hard for Apple to keep this market share at these prices if the audience expands.

If you’ve been reading, marketshare is not what it’s all about, it never has been, it’s about value to consumers and profit share.