Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Smartwatch sales grow, Apple dominates
Strategy Analytics, a research firm, says smartwatch shipments grew 20 percent annually to 14 million units in the first quarter of 2020.
Apple Watch remains the top brand. It has a tick over 55 percent market share. Sales of Apple Watch were up almost 23 percent during the year. There is the Apple Watch market and then there is everything else.
Samsung is a long way behind with almost 14 percent of the market. Its watch sales are also up, but only a shade under 12 percent. That means Samsung in particular, and Android watches in general, are losing market share.
Third place goes to Garmin, which you rarely hear of in New Zealand. It has eight percent of the market but saw sales increase by a whopping 37.5 percent. ‘Others’ make up 22.6 percent and, in market share terms, are falling relative to Apple and Garmin.
Huawei,
which sells its own brand of Android watches and was early
to the smartwatch market doesn't appear to register in
its own right. Count it among the 'others'.
Phone up while PCs and phones languish
It’s interesting to see smartwatches are selling well. This is at a time when phone sales are plummeting and while there has been a temporary surge in PC sales, overall sales are, at best, flat.
The results underscore the recent trend which suggests Android struggles to break out of the phone sector. It may dominate mobile handsets, but has not successfully translated that success with either watches or tablets.
One key to this is that Apple understands how to build an entire support system about a product. The Apple Watch integrates with everything else Apple. You might, for example, use it to unlock your desktop iMac computer.
This integration and support system creates value for third parties to develop apps and complementary products. That's not so much the case with Android watches. Yes, the watches overlap and integrate a little with phones, but pairing adds little value.
Smartwatch sales grow, Apple dominates was first posted at billbennett.co.nz.
Bill Bennett
New Zealand technology news
Bill Bennett publishes technology news and features that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
Covering enterprise and small business computing, start-ups, listed companies, the technology channel and devices. Bennett's main focus is on New Zealand innovation.
Bill Bennett stories are republished on Geekzone and Scoop.
Stories published on this site are available to publishers for a fixed fee or a monthly subscription.
Bill Bennett: Another Pacific cable for NZ by 2026
Suze Wilson - The Conversation: Luxon’s Leadership Test; What Would It Take To Win Back Unimpressed NZ Voters?
Gordon Campbell: On The Coalition’s Awful, Not Good, Very Bad Poll Results
Ian Powell: Policy Vacuum Enables For-profit Corporate General Practice Ownership By Stealth
Gordon Campbell: On Iran Killing Its Rappers, And Searching For The Invisible Dr. Reti
Peter Dunne: MPs Unusually Quiet On Pay Rise