Since Apple announced that it would stop releasing specific sales figures for its products about two years ago, the work of analytics firms around the world has become somewhat more uncertain, relying on contacts with suppliers and outsourced data. Thus, in some cases, the estimates published by different companies can differ greatly.
That’s exactly what happened here: last month, Strategy Analytics talked about global sales of smartwatches in the first quarter and placed Apple in a basically untouchable position, with 7.6 million units sold and a 55% market share. Because the data released today by Canalys – also about global sales of smartwatches in the first quarter – paint a different scenario.
According to the firm, Apple is still a loose market leader, but suffered a significant drop in sales compared to the first quarter of 2019: according to Canalys, they were 5.2 million Apple Watches sold in early 2020, against 6 million in the same period last year. THE market share As a result, the company dropped from 46.7% to 36.3%.
The overall smartwatch market grew by 12% and, of all companies counted, only Apple and Fitbit had a comparative drop in sales. Already Huawei, vice-leader of the segment, saw an appetizing jump of 113% in the volume of devices shipped – especially for smartwatch offers included in smartphone purchases and the success of the Huawei Watch GT 2, launched last September.
The fall of the Apple Watch, according to analyst Vincent Thielke, may have a name: AirPods.
A strong demand for smartwatches on the other side of the world helped Apple to compensate for the slow performance of the Apple Watch in Europe and North America, attributed mainly to the company’s consumers diverging their attention to the AirPods as “the accessory to buy”. […] While Android smartphone makers see increasingly strong competitors (such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo) in emerging markets, Apple Watch is consolidating an increasing portion of the iOS user base in these countries, offering greater assurance future iPhones sales.
In other words, in the end, even if Apple Watch sales fell, the news is good for Apple. Primarily because, according to the analysis, consumers are no longer buying watches to buy AirPods, rather than competing devices – and if customers stay within Cupertino’s playpen, there is nothing to worry about.
In addition, in any case, Apple’s leadership in the smartwatch market is still broad – its market share is larger than those of Huawei, Samsung and Garmin (second, third and fourth placed) combined. That is, it is a whole world of users fully inserted in the iOS ecosystem who, in principle, will continue to buy iPhones over the next few years.
So, let’s see the scenes from the next chapters.
Apple Watch Series 5
in Apple
Cash price: from R $ 3,599.10Installed price: up to 12x R $ 333.25Sizes: 40mm or 44mmMaterials: aluminum, stainless steel, titanium or ceramicFeatures: GPS or GPS + CellularColors: diverseLaunch: September 2019
via AppleInsider
