Apple extends dominant smartwatch market lead in Q1

Apple Watch extended its lead over smartwatch market competitors during the first quarter of 2020, according to new statistics from research firm Strategy Analytics, with Apple's wearable now accounting for more than 55% of the whole.

The latest estimates from Strategy Analytics once again put Apple well ahead of the competition at 7.6 million units shipped for quarter one, up 22.6% from 6.2 million shipments in the same period last year. Apple Watch now owns 55.5% of the market, up 1.1% year-over-year.

"Apple Watch continues to fend off strong competition from hungry rivals like Garmin and Samsung," said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics. "Apple Watch owns half the worldwide smartwatch market and remains the clear industry leader."

Samsung came in a distant second with 1.9 million units shipped for the quarter, up 11.8% on the year. The Korean tech giant's share of the market dropped from 14.9% in the first quarter of 2019 to 13.9% during the most recent period.

Third-place Garmin saw a 37.5% uptick in growth as it shipped 1.1 million units in the first quarter. The company's overall marketshare remains in the single digits at 8%.

A collection of also-rans comprised the "others" vendor category, which managed 3.1 million units shipped for a 22.6% share of the market. Overall, the smartwatch sector grew 20.2% over the first three months of 2020, driven largely by Apple Watch's strong performance.

During Apple's recent earnings conference call for the second fiscal quarter of 2020, CFO Luca Maestri said revenue from the iPhone maker's wearables arm is now equivalent to a Fortune 140 company.

Apple is expected to release a next-generation Apple Watch this fall. Recent rumors suggest the company will continue to iterate on the wearable's health features and could include anxiety monitoring and sleep tracking functionality in an "Apple Watch Series 6."

10 Comments

macmojo 12 comments · 11 Years

About 4 years ago

So much for it being a 'failed' product, which is all I heard from the detractors when series 0 launched (which I bought, was a bit slow but otherwise, I loved it).

Currently have a Series 3/iPhone X combo but been patiently waiting for the upcoming series 6. Will go nice with an iPhone 12Pro upgrade...

hammeroftruth 1351 comments · 16 Years

macmojo said:

So much for it being a 'failed' product, which is all I heard from the detractors when series 0 launched (which I bought, was a bit slow but otherwise, I loved it).

Currently have a Series 3/iPhone X combo but been patiently waiting for the upcoming series 6. Will go nice with an iPhone 12Pro upgrade...

I had a first gen and it was borderline. Kept it for many years until I upgraded to a Series 4.
At the time there didn’t seem to be a clear direction of the UI and what the watch was supposed to do. 3rd party apps were so-so and later on a lot were discontinued because they were terrible.

Depending on what iPhone you had, you’re experience was usually lacking. You could pull out your phone faster than waiting for the watch to sync and show you the same info.
A lot of times it was god awful. Setting it up took forever, battery life was not great, some neat things it did were later discontinued as Apple was trying to figure out what features do people want and which ones were just gimmicks.

It really wasn’t until series 3 that there was more focus on creating a device that everyone could use. You could swim with it, it had better software, hardware and battery life.

Then Series 4 came and it was amazing. Bigger screen, better battery life, better sensors, a single lead ecg and fall detection. Siri was more responsive. They even made all of the watch backs ceramic, not just the stainless ones.
It was the watch I was hoping for when I bought the first gen.

Xed 2855 comments · 4 Years

hammeroftruth said:

macmojo said:

So much for it being a 'failed' product, which is all I heard from the detractors when series 0 launched (which I bought, was a bit slow but otherwise, I loved it).

Currently have a Series 3/iPhone X combo but been patiently waiting for the upcoming series 6. Will go nice with an iPhone 12Pro upgrade...

I had a first gen and it was borderline. Kept it for many years until I upgraded to a Series 4.
At the time there didn’t seem to be a clear direction of the UI and what the watch was supposed to do. 3rd party apps were so-so and later on a lot were discontinued because they were terrible.

Depending on what iPhone you had, you’re experience was usually lacking. You could pull out your phone faster than waiting for the watch to sync and show you the same info.
A lot of times it was god awful. Setting it up took forever, battery life was not great, some neat things it did were later discontinued as Apple was trying to figure out what features do people want and which ones were just gimmicks.

It really wasn’t until series 3 that there was more focus on creating a device that everyone could use. You could swim with it, it had better software, hardware and battery life.

Then Series 4 came and it was amazing. Bigger screen, better battery life, better sensors, a single lead ecg and fall detection. Siri was more responsive. They even made all of the watch backs ceramic, not just the stainless ones.
It was the watch I was hoping for when I bought the first gen.

I had none of those issues with my Series 0. Battery life was lasted two days, I swam with it on, and it everything was synced. Was each subsequent model better and major OS update a major improvement, sure, but I can't think of a single Apple product that didn't follow that same lead.

The concept was sound which is why it's still evolving from its original UI and UX instead of being scrapped and built back up from the ground like so many other smartwatches before it.

Beats 3073 comments · 4 Years

This is a strange segment. I would have bet my life Samsung would've released a knockoff version and outsold Apple by undercutting them.

This is iPod all over again. As soon as one of the Apple-wannabe companies ripoff Watch, it will be 2nd or even 1st place(sales). This is what helped Fitbit so much, except Fitbit has an ounce of originality.

Whenever a company tries to be original they fail, goes to show how much these companies actually suck as they cannot stand on their own. How long will Android Watches hold out from making knockoffs until they tap out from no one wanting them?

anantksundaram 20389 comments · 18 Years

The Watch is brilliant.

I did not think it possible, but it has become an even more essential part of my life than the phone.