Apple Watch driving radical smartwatch market expansion in Q2 2021

As the overall smartwatch market grows, Apple continues to hold its lead with the popular Apple Watch Series 6 driving sales.

Research from Counterpoint shows that other platforms are struggling to gain market share in the smartwatch market. Apple Watch sits comfortably at 33.5% of shipments while second place is Tizen at only 8%. The remainder of the market share is distributed among several smaller brands.

The commanding lead that the Apple Watch holds is despite a consolidation in the smartwatch market thanks to acquisitions and mergers from major companies trying to compete with Apple's efforts. The Apple Watch continues to dominate with 33.5% of the global smartwatch shipments share in fiscal Q2 2021.

"Apple was able to further solidify its leadership position in the market by widening the portfolio from Watch SE to Series 6 at the right time," said senior analyst Sujeong Lim. "This may drive Samsung to launch a mid-price-tier model to boost growth."

Google's WearOS for smartwatches has failed to gain traction in the market with only 3.9% of shipments. Google recently announced a partnership with Samsung to bolster its wearable business along with the acquisition of Fitbit. These three brands combined could represent more than 15% of shipments in the future.

"This is a great move by Google to accelerate its ambitions for the wearables space," said Vice President of Research Neil Shah. "It can build a robust portfolio of Wear devices integrating the best of all the three worlds - Tizen OS, Wear OS and Fitbit OS. The consolidation brings more power to Google's Wear platform and will attract more developers to build newer experiences for the wrist."

Apple introduced Apple Fitness+, which combines fitness tracking on the Apple Watch with video exercises on Apple TV or iPad for a new level of synergy.

Rumors about the "Apple Watch Series 7" show a continued commitment to health tracking and life-saving features. Apple could introduce a blood pressure monitor or some form of glucose tracking in the new smartwatch. Such features in a $400 smartwatch would ensure Apple's market control continued into 2022.

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13 Comments

lkrupp 19 Years · 10521 comments

About 3 years ago

True to form, Apple develops a runaway hit with the Watch, and the others realize they have to start over if they want to compete. Is it really going to take three companies to compete with Apple effectively?

MacPro 18 Years · 19845 comments

lkrupp said:

True to form, Apple develops a runaway hit with the Watch, and the others realize they have to start over if they want to compete. Is it really going to take three companies to compete with Apple effectively?

Remember the naysayers here on AI when it was announced? I'd love to see AI repost some of the best examples of those claiming Watch would fail.

muthuk_vanalingam 8 Years · 1371 comments

lkrupp said:

True to form, Apple develops a runaway hit with the Watch, and the others realize they have to start over if they want to compete. Is it really going to take three companies to compete with Apple effectively?

i don't think even 30 companies are going to compete with Apple effectively on the Watch space, much like Tablets. Apple will nearly be a monopoly on these 2 segments for years to come.

DAalseth 6 Years · 3067 comments

MacPro said:

lkrupp said:

True to form, Apple develops a runaway hit with the Watch, and the others realize they have to start over if they want to compete. Is it really going to take three companies to compete with Apple effectively?

Remember the naysayers here on AI when it was announced? I'd love to see AI repost some of the best examples of those claiming Watch would fail.

I was one of those, I didn’t think it was that big a deal. I did not see the appeal of the AW when it was released. However let’s be honest, the original AW was nothing compared to what is out today. Apple tried to place it as a fashion accessory. Only when they boosted the power and capabilities did it become a must have thing. That’s why I waited until the AW 6 before getting one. Now I love it, it has integrated into every aspect of my daily life. The original AW0 would not have.

Though TBH that is how Apple has come to dominate several markets. The iPhone, and iPad were each cool devices that didn’t do much at first. Each was refined and refined until they became the fantastic devices they are now. I waited until the iPhone 5C before I got one.

williamh 13 Years · 1048 comments

Supporting the premise of the story, my wife's AW is out for delivery now. Some of you have noted the major improvements in 6 generations of the watch.

For me, even the original did what I wanted it to do and pretty well, which was basically to track my workouts which are mostly running and calisthenic type of stuff. I've enjoyed some of the new features but disabled a lot of them, such as most alerts.

I'd recommended the watch to my wife for a long time (along with Fitbit etc, whatever works for her) for motivating her fitness. Finally the newer health features and EKG got her attention, as well as the variety of straps. She likes pretty things.