Stephen Silver
On the eve of an expected new Apple Watch unveiling, the smartwatch category is booming worldwide, with Apple leading it with a 41 percent market share. That's according to new research from Counterpoint.
The latest survey from Counterpoint Research shows that Apple continues to dominate the global market for smartwatches, although its lead over Fitbit has shrunk.
According to the firm's Global Smartwatch Tracker, Apple leads the category with 41 percent marketshare worldwide, followed by Fitbit with 21 percent. Every other competitor, including Fossil, Garmin, and Samsung, is at 5 percent or lower.
Apple's market share actually dropped from 48 percent a year ago to 41 percent, as Fitbit jumped from 8 percent to 21 percent.
As for individual models, the Series 1 is the best-selling smartwatch in the world, comprising over 90 percent of all Apple Watch sales worldwide. It is followed by the Fitbit Versa and the Amazfit BIP. The Apple Watch Series 3 ranks fourth with the Fitbit Ionic fifth.
"Despite initial hype and traction of cellular based Apple Watch Series 3 in the first two quarters, Apple iPhone users are actually choosing the Series 1 as a non-cellular option over Series 3 non-cellular model which is surprising to many industry watchers," Counterpoint Research Director Neil Shah said in the release.
"This also shows Apple users are choosing Series 3 preferably if they want to add cellular connectivity, else Series 1 remains the most popular model contributing to almost nine out of ten Apple Watch sold in Q2 2018. While this is great for Apple from an ecosystem perspective, from an ASP perspective it is not the same bump as Apple would expect with newer iPhone models every year."
Apple is expected to unveil an Apple Watch Series 4 at its upcoming "Gather Round" event on Sept. 12. A leak that surfaced Thursday featured a larger display and a reduced bezel.
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18 Comments
I’ll bet they don’t have data from Apple stores and Apple online sales so this data is flawed.
This study just doesn’t make sense and must have been based on old data. I work in a busy hospital and two years ago, one would see FitBits on many people and only a few AWs but now it has dramatically flipped. I almost never see a FitBit on a healthcare worker. Now it is a sea of AWs. That change happened dramatically with the release of Series 3.
Likewise, I see very few FitBits in the wild anymore.
I know this sounds like a broken record but so be it. Many here scoffed at the idea of an Apple watch being successful. The device was eviscerated by every swinging dick analyst out there. Apple tech blog denizens tore into it like hungry piranhas. They have mocked it ever since down to its red crown. Tim Cook had failed to deliver the next big thing. Android Gear would prevail FTW. To this very day we have comments saying the Watch won't succeed unless it has a round face.
They were all wrong. Bottom line? Don't ever take the comment section of an Apple tech blog seriously. The self-styled technorati who live in these places are no better than the analysts who have been predicting Apple's demise for over forty years now.
Apple is doomed. Doomed I tell ya!
Anecdotal data: I I hadn’t found an excellent deal on a Series 2 Aluminum Watch with my favorite band, the Millenese loop, I would have definitely gotten the Series 1 .