Apple may not have disclosed Apple Watch sale numbers yesterday when it announced its Q3 FY2015 financial results but Strategy Analytics estimates that the company shipped 4 million smartwatches during Q2. With the overall global smartwatch market hitting a record high 5.3 million units, Apple accounted for a dominant 75% of the market despite the Apple Watch making its debut during the quarter.
The overall global smartwatch market grew 457% annually. In comparison, shipments in Q2 2014 had only reached one million units. Perhaps more impressive is that more smartwatches shipped in Q2 2015 than the whole of 2014.
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “We estimate Apple Watch shipped 4.0 million units and captured a dominant 75 percent smartwatch marketshare worldwide in Q2 2015. Apple Watch launched in sixteen major countries and saw decent take-up from iPhone loyalists in the United States and elsewhere. Apple Watch has clearly raised the bar for the global smartwatch industry. The ball is now in the court of rivals, like Samsung, to respond.”
Samsung, once the dominant player, saw shipments drop from 700,000 in Q2 2014 to 400,000 in Q2 2015 (a trend seen in Q1 as well). It saw its market share plummet from 73.6% to 7.5% in that span of time. Strategy Analytics suggests that Samsung will need to launch multiple new smartwatch models across dozens of countries if it wants to reduce Apple’s dominance. Among these is likely to be the Samsung Gear A, the company’s first round smartwatch.
Other players saw their shipments grow from 300,000 to 900,000 units between Q2 2014 and Q2 2015. At the same time, their market share fell from 26.4% to 17%.
Source : Strategy Analytics