Apple Grabs 75 Percent Market Share In The Smartwatch Market, Says Research Firm

The fate of Apple Watch is quite an interesting point of discussion among the tech analysts and enthusiasts. While, big app makers like Facebook, Snapchat have shown skepticism towards Apple’s wearable product, a research by an independent market research firm indicates that a majority of Apple Watch users are ‘satisfied’ with the product. Probably, Apple could kill this confusion, if it revealed the real sales numbers of Apple watch, instead of clubbing it with the “other products” category.

However, research firm Strategy Analytics have come up with numbers, which reveal that Apple Watch has grabbed a dominant 75 percent in the smartwatch market. According to the research firm, global smartwatch shipments grew 457 percent annually to hit a record 5 million units in Q2 2015.

Cliff Raskind, Director at Strategy Analytics points out “it was the smartwatch industry's fastest ever growth rate” as volumes in the second quarter of 2015 were higher when compared to 2014, when 4.6 million smartwatches were shipped globally. According to a CNET report, there has been concerns over the sales of Apple Watch, which has reported weaker than expected sales following the launch of the product in April. However, the report quoted Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, saying, "sales of the Watch did exceed my expectations, despite supply trailing demand at the end of the quarter."

Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics explained that Apple Watch witnessed a decent uptake from iPhone users in the United States and other geographies. As per Strategy Analytics, Apple Watch has raised the standard of the global smartwatch industry and its rivals are in for a tough competition.

Apple’s rival, Samsung is estimated to have shipped 0.4 million smartwatches and has captured 8 percent marketshare globally, securing the second spot in the segment, as per Strategy Analytics, which also mentioned that Apple and Samsung together account for 8 in 10 of all smartwatches that is shipped across the world. In terms of competition, Rajeev Nair, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, says, “Samsung is a long way behind Apple and it will need to launch multiple new smartwatch models and apps across dozens of countries if it wants to reduce Apple’s global smartwatch leadership in the coming months.”

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