apple watch share Archives

Wear OS Share Surges on Samsung’s Highest Quarterly Smartwatch Shipments in Q3 2021

Samsung achieved its highest quarterly shipments with the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4 series, narrowing the gap with Apple.
With Samsung’s move to use Wear OS, the OS’s share in the smartwatch market increased to 17% in Q3 2021 from 4% in Q2 2021.

Boston, Beijing, Toronto, London, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul – November 22, 2021

Global smartwatch shipments in the third quarter of this year increased 16% compared to the same period last year, continuing their double-digit growth following the previous quarter, according to Counterpoint Research’s recently published Global Smartwatch Model Tracker.

Thanks to the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4 series, Samsung achieved its highest quarterly shipments, narrowing the gap with Apple and reclaiming second place from Huawei. From this smartwatch series, Samsung has expanded its app ecosystem by using Android-based Wear OS instead of its Tizen. The brand has also broadened users’ range of choice by launching two models – basic and classic. The newly added body composition feature has also fetched a good response.

Apple still held the No. 1 spot in Q3 2021 but its share fell 10% YoY as its Watch Series 7 launch was delayed to the fourth quarter. Amazfit ranked third due to its growing popularity in Europe.

One of the highlights of this quarter was the rapid growth of Indian brands. Noise and boAt, which ranked first and second, respectively, in the Indian smartwatch market, shipped more than double the volume from the previous quarter.

Global Top 5 Smartwatch Shipments by OEM, Q3 2021 vs Q3 2020

Source: Global Smartwatch Model Tracker, Q3 2021

Counterpoint Research Senior Analyst, Sujeong Lim said, “Samsung performed better than expected in the third quarter. Although the Galaxy Watch 4 series shipments were much higher than expected, more than 60% of the total shipments were sold in North America and Europe, where the share of mid-to-high price range models is high. To further increase its market share, Samsung is expected to launch affordable models within 2-3 years to target the fast-growing Asian market. One-third of smartwatches sold in Q3 2021 were priced under $100.”

In Q3 2021, there was also a significant change in OS market shares. Thanks to Samsung, which started using Wear OS with the Galaxy Watch 4, Google saw good growth in the wearable OS market. In terms of OS, the smartwatch market is fragmented as many OEMs still use proprietary OS or RTOS. But with third-party app support becoming important for users, the situation is expected to change steadily.

Smartwatch Shipment Share by OS, Q3 2018-Q3 2021

Source: Global Smartwatch Model Tracker, Q3 2021

Ms. Lim added, “Google has maintained a dominant share in the smartphone market with the Android OS, but so far has not achieved much in the wearable market. This is because Google controlled smartwatch OEMs from customizing the UI, and it was not chosen by them due to its lower power efficiency and slow response time.

However, the partnership with Samsung from this year has gained a foothold for Google to expand its presence in the wearable OS market and seems ready to transform into a more open wearable platform from this time forward.”

Background:

Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in products in the TMT (technology, media and telecom) industry. It services major technology and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects and detailed analyses of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are seasoned experts in the high-tech industry.

Analyst Contacts:

Sujeong Lim

Neil Shah

Follow Counterpoint Research
press@counterpointresearch.com

India Smartwatch Shipments Triple YoY in Q2 2021, Noise Maintains Lead

Noise continued to maintain its lead for the fourth consecutive quarter.
boAt Storm topped the best-selling model chart for the quarter.
Over 70% of the shipments were driven by Indian brands.

Boston, Toronto, London, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul – September 9, 2021

India’s smartwatch shipments more than tripled in Q2 2021 compared to the same period last year, with 206% YoY and 18% QoQ growth during the quarter, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s IoT Service. The growth was mainly driven by affordable offerings, new entrants, changing customer preferences and demand recovery from the lockdown period.

Looking at the overall market, Senior Research Analyst Anshika Jain said, “India’s smartwatch market is in a boom phase as more and more people are trying out smartwatches because of the affordability factor. Smartwatches are now replacing traditional watches and complementing smartphone usage as well. Domestic brands are playing a pivotal role in making them accessible by introducing relevant functionality and fitness tracking functions at lower price points. The top three brands in the Indian smartwatch market are domestic and have over a three-fifths share of the total market.

We are estimating double-digit growth for the country’s smartwatch market in the coming period as new vendors are coming with emphasis on the CMF factor (Colour, Material and Finish), thereby offering a wide variety of options to the consumers at different price points.” Around 10 brands have already entered this market since the beginning of 2021.

On domestic production, Jain said, “We are also seeing domestic production picking up. Samsung is already producing smartwatches in India since June 2020. Other players like realme, Molife and Timex are also opting for domestic production as it would help reduce the prices as well as dependence on the external market.”

On the price trends and features, Research Associate Harshit Rastogi said, “We are witnessing many new launches in the sub-INR 5,000 segment, which saw its contribution rising to 83% in the overall market in Q2 2021, compared to 67% in Q2 2020. Due to this, the ASP (average selling price) of smartwatches decreased by 36% in Q2 2021 compared to the same period last year. We are also seeing features like Voice Assistant, Bluetooth Calling, SpO2 and Blood Pressure Monitor trickling down from high-end models to the low-end ones.”

Market Summary:

Noise grew 229% YoY to remain at the top with a 27.3% market share. The Colorfit Pro 2, launched in 2019, was its highest-selling model. New launches like the Colorfit Pro 3 and Noisefit Active helped the brand maintain its lead. Noise also roped in cricketer Rishabh Pant as its brand ambassador.
boAt grew 34% QoQ in Q2 2021. Its Boat Storm was the best-selling smartwatch model in the market in Q2 2021, capturing over one-fifth of the market. Since its entry in Q4 2020, the brand has quickly grabbed the second spot in the Indian smartwatch market. It is also rapidly closing the gap with Noise with new models like the Xtend and Xplorer, which have more features.
Fire Boltt quickly emerged as the third-largest player with 243% QoQ growth. Multiple affordable-segment launches, feature-packed products, rewards program and exclusive tie-ups with online retailers made this growth possible. The company has signed actor Vicky Kaushal as its brand ambassador.
Amazfit grew 58% YoY in Q2 2021 due to its diverse offerings. It stood at number one in the INR 5,000 and above segment.
realme declined 49% YoY as it is facing tough competition from domestic brands. realme had its third-anniversary sale in June 2021 and also introduced bank offers to push its inventory. The brand is looking to upgrade its smartwatch series in Q3 2021 with two new models.
Samsung grew 118% YoY aided by the sales of its Galaxy Watch Active 2 The watch was also bundled along with its Galaxy S21 smartphone series during April at just INR 990.
Xiaomi made an entry into the sub-INR 5,000 price segment with its Redmi Watch. Xiaomi also slashed the price of its Mi Watch Revolve before launching the Mi Watch Revolve Active on June 22.
Apple grew 34% YoY mainly due to high sales of the Series 6 and SE. The sales of its other models have fallen rapidly since the introduction of newer models.
OnePlus also entered the smartwatch market in Q2 2021 with its OnePlus Watch. It has already taken the top spot in the INR 10,000-INR 15,000 price band.

Background

Analyst Contacts:

Anshika Jain

Harshit Rastogi

Counterpoint Research
press(at)counterpointresearch.com

Fitbit Smartwatch Shipments Grew 348% YoY in Q3 2018

Global smartwatch Grew 53% YoY, Apple continues to dominate the smartwatch market with 30% share,

Seoul, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Beijing, London, Buenos Aires, San Diego

November 5th, 2018

According to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Global Smartwatch Tracker, global smartwatch shipments grew 53% YoY in Q3 2018 with strong performance from fitbit, kids watch brands such as imoo, start-ups such as Amazfit.

Discussing Apple’s performance, Research Director, Jeff Fieldhack, noted, “Apple continues to dominate the smartwatch market with a lion’s share of 30% of the smartwatches shipped. The introduction of the Series 4 this fall was the biggest update from a design and features standpoint, and has quickly resonated with Apple’s loyal user base. Apple’s Series 3 saw an uptick later in the quarter with discounted pricing, while Apple’s Series 1 continued to be the single biggest selling SKU contributing to almost half of all Apple Watch shipments. This could change in holiday season quarter as our channel checks showed pent-up demand for the Series 4.”

Exhibit 1: Global Smartwatch Shipments market share by in Q3 2017 vs. Q3 2018

Source: Counterpoint Research Q3 2018 Global Smartwatch Tracker

Commenting on the major shift in the market, Counterpoint Research Analyst, Satyajit Sinha, noted, “Fitbit continues to shift its focus from predominantly SmartBand/trackers to smartwatches and has now evolved as the next best player to Apple in terms of experience and scale. The launch of the Versa smartwatch was the turning point for Fitbit’s smartwatch segment growth. The health/fitness factor is playing a key role in driving consumer decision making for the adoption of smartwatches and Fitbit has entirely focused on this core use case.”

In our latest smartwatch survey among US consumers, the LTE communications capability in the Apple Watch is the most desirable feature. Cellular connectivity enables watches to work independently of smartphones – a capability that we believe will drive the market. By end of this year, cellular-capable watches will likely contribute to 20% of global smartwatch shipments. This will be a challenge for Fitbit to solve and range LTE SKUs in their portfolio”.

Counterpoint’s Senior Analyst, Hanish Bhatia, added, “The children’s or kids’ smartwatch segment is growing rapidly, especially in Asia. The market is being driven by Chinese brands such as Imoo, Kido, Kurio, TCL and Vtech in US. The segment is attractive for operators as well; there are significant net adds to be gained by Chinese operators and bigger operators such as Vodafone with their V IoT portfolio, AIS Thailand and Maxis in Malaysia, all of which have added kids’ smartwatches to their portfolios to boost new connections and additional revenue streams.

However, a few countries in Europe have been scrutinizing kids’ smartwatches with tracking features (GPS) over security concerns. This is especially the case in the new GDPR environment. So, robust security and user experience will be key to success for this segment.”

Commenting on the market development from a components perspective, Research Director, Neil Shah, noted, “Qualcomm continues to accelerate innovation in the smartwatch market with its recent launch of the Snapdragon Wear 3100 building on healthy adoption of Snapdragon Wear 2100/2500 platforms in LTE capable kids watches. Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon wear platform is not only enabling LTE connectivity but also bringing a much-needed ultra-low power architecture to the smartwatches. It remains to be seen if the new platform can boost Androidwear smartwatch sales and market share, which have been stagnant at 17%.”

The Smartwatch market is dominated by the top five brands, which account for 69% of the shipments by volume:

Apple’s quarterly shipments grew by 24% sequentially and 31% YoY in Q3 2018 due to the enthusiastic response to the launch of its Watch Series 4.
Fitbit’s share in smartwatch shipments grew sharply to 16%, primarily due to the continued success of its Versa, which was released in April 2018.
Imoo is a sub-brand of a Chinese OEM BBK Group (which owns OPPO, Vivo and OnePlus). Imoo held a healthy 10% global market share in Q3 2018.
Samsung held 8% global market share in Q3 2018. The shipments grew due to a better performance of both its Gear S3 and the new Galaxy Watch launched in August 2018.
Amazfit is a sub-brand of a Chinese OEM Huami, which is also a manufacturer of wearable products for Xiaomi. Amazfit currently holds 3% market share and grew 41% QoQ in Q3 2018. The established sales channels and brand awareness of Mi smartphones and bands will help Amazfit grow in newer geographies such as India.

Counterpoint Research

press@counterpointresearch.com

@CounterPointTR

Top

Coverage

Insights

Social media

Contact us

Top

Related Posts

Coverage

Insights

Social media

Contact us

Term of Use and Privacy Policy