Apple Watch takes half of the market and posts record figures in 2016

By

Susan Spies

Published
Feb 9, 2017

There is no denying the records set by Apple in the fourth quarter of 2016. Not only did the Cupertino, California giant unload 78 million iPhones, it also succeeded in shipping six million connected watches during the same period, according to the latest figures from market research consultant Canalys.

The figure of six million Apple Watches shipped highlights a 12% increase for the same quarter in 2015. But more importantly it also shows that Apple has monopolized two thirds of the connected watch market, which boasted overall shipments of nine million units in the course of the period, reports Canalys. Even more extraordinary, in terms of value Apple Watch accounted for 80% of revenue generated by the smartwatch market.

With regard to overall figures for 2016, Apple shipped 11.9 million watches, accounting for nearly half of the market share (49%). Not surprisingly then, Apple enjoys a huge lead in this market, where it is far ahead of second placed Fitbit (17%) and third placed Samsung (15%). Taken together, all of the other connected watch producers account for a market share of only 19%.

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In 2017, however, Canalys is predicting a bounce in shipments of Android Wear watches, notably with the long awaited widespread deployment of Android Wear 2 and the launch of such models as the Samsung Gear S3 which will be available in "Classic" and "Frontier" versions.