The Apple Watch has quickly established itself as the dominant smartwatch in the wearables market. Global smartwatch shipments hit a record 6.1 million units in Q3 2015 with Apple crushing its competitors despite a relatively late entry into the market. According to Strategy Analytics, the Apple Watch grabbed 74% of the market share thanks to estimated shipments of 4.5 million units.
Cliff Raskind, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartwatch shipments grew an impressive 510 percent annually from 1.0 million units in Q3 2014 to hit a record 6.1 million in Q3 2015. Global smartwatch growth is being driven by consumer demand across North America, Western Europe and Asia for the much-hyped Apple Watch model.”
Apple’s competition is trailing far behind. Samsung held down second spot with shipments of 600,000 units, good enough for a 10 percent marketshare worldwide. Not only is it far behind Apple but Samsung’s shipments actually dropped year-over-year from about 700,000 units the same quarter a year ago. It remains to be seen if Samsung will be able to reverse this trend in Q4 with the new Samsung Gear S2 and a heavy marketing push.
All other competitors combined managed shipments of one million smartwatches.
Apple Watch smartwatch shipments were estimated by IDC to come in at 4.4 million units in Q2. They will likely jump with the upcoming holiday shopping season.
Source : Strategy Analytics