Apple saw a slight decline in its leadership position in the smartwatch market in the third quarter of 2021. This is due to Samsung, which made a name for itself here with the release of the Galaxy Watch 4. And it must be said, rightly so.
It is worth noting that the Apple Watch is still the best-selling watch in the world. However, they worsened by 6% year-on-year, as at least the company's analysis mentions Counterpoint Research. There can be several reasons. One is certainly the most prosaic - people were waiting for the new generation that was supposed to be presented in September, which of course slowed down the sales themselves.
Samsung sticks out the horns
The second reason is the growing Samsung, which took a certain percentage of the Apple Watch from the total pie. He owes this to the strong demand for his Galaxy Watch 4 series, which visibly convinced even users who had previously not considered buying a Samsung smartwatch to invest. The company's decision to convert the Tizen system of its smartwatches to Wear OS thus increased the market share from a paltry 4% in the second quarter to a nice 17% in the third quarter. Additionally, more than 60% of total shipments were sold in North America and Europe.
Apple and Samsung are followed by products from companies such as Amazfit, imoo and Huawei, which also saw a corresponding drop of almost 9%. But overall, the market is growing as global shipments of smartwatches increased by 16% year-on-year. However, it should be noted that even Counterpoint doesn't have insight into Apple's supply or retail chains and only provides estimates based on independent research, so the numbers may be skewed after all.
Apple doesn't release Apple Watch sales figures, but its Wearables, Home and Accessories category earned $2021 billion in the fourth fiscal quarter of 7,9 (July, August, September). In the same period the previous year, it was $6,52 billion.
The third and unflattering reason for Apple
To put it mildly, people are losing interest in the Apple Watch. Since their introduction in 2015, they still look the same, only the size of the case and the display changes decently, plus, of course, some new, and for many unnecessary, functions come here and there. But keeping the same design for 6 years is simply a cross if we are talking about consumer electronics.
The Apple Watch is still the best smartwatch you can buy for your iPhone. But with the minimal innovation that Apple puts into them, existing users simply have no reason to upgrade to a newer generation, and that naturally slows down sales. Still the same design and a minimum of new functions may not be the motivation to buy a watch for all those who would think about it in theory, but still see it as the same device that was here a year, two, three years ago.
At the same time, relatively little would be enough. It would only be enough to change the design. The classic watch market is perhaps not complicated. It is possible to invent new complications, but more slowly, so practically only the design and possibly the materials used change. Apple is trying to do it with crayons, but they probably won't save it. If he wants to maintain his position, sooner or later he will have no choice but to introduce another edition - be it sporty, durable or any other.
Samsung finally allows you to pay with your watch thanks to WearOS. Also one of the reasons that was neglected and I think it is the most important. Tizen was also able to do it, but the expansion was lousy even in the world.
As a fan of Apple and most of its products, I also reject the Apple Watch. I had them for 4 months and it was with great relief that I sold them. Visually and functionally ok. Endure total misery and shame!!! It is unusable for someone who works 12-15 hours a day and wants to measure activities during the day and sleep at the same time. I don't mean sitting on your butt in the office. Everyone around likes them and they reject them only because of their stamina and prefer the competition. I personally don't want it from anyone anymore.
Apple mainly didn't come up with anything this year that would be worth buying a new version of. I'm perfectly fine with sixes. And the stamina, that's just a problem. No extra battery will fit in such a device. The only alternative would be a battery directly in the band. A company once tried to do this with the Apple Watch, but Apple stopped them. Personally, I thought that it was so that he himself would come up with something like that later, as is their good practice, but even after 5 years, nothing. At the same time, it is literally offered. With the battery in the strap, the watch would easily last a week.
A battery in the strap would limit the use and alternation of different straps depending on the situation and mood... that's not the way to go. One original strap does not suit everyone