Scalper1 News
Apple ( AAPL ) held onto its lead in the nascent smartwatch market in the first quarter, but lost ground to rivals after the holiday season, in the seasonally slower period. Apple shipped 2.2 million units of the Apple Watch in Q1, giving it a 52.4% market share, Strategy Analytics said Thursday. In the fourth quarter, Apple shipped 5.1 million smartwatches and grabbed a 63% market share, the research firm said. Samsung came in second with a 14.3% market share, having shipped 600,000 Gear smartwatches in Q1. In the fourth quarter, Samsung shipped 1.3 million smartwatches, giving it a 16% market share. Other vendors such as LG and Motorola shipped 1.4 million smartwatches in Q1, combining for a 33.3% market share, Strategy Analytics said. On a year-over-year basis, global smartwatch shipments grew 223% to 4.2 million units in Q1. The Apple Watch was not yet available in the year-earlier quarter. It went on sale on April 24, 2015. “Now that many Apple early adopters have their smartwatches and all of the holiday gifts have been unwrapped, it would seem the honeymoon for version 1 of the Apple Watch is over,” Strategy Analytics director Cliff Raskind said in a statement . “Future traction for Apple Watch 2 will be closely linked to compelling apps that better exploit the usability of wearable tech, while offering autonomous 4G connectivity and enhanced battery life — all of which are in rather short supply today.” Apple is widely expected to unveil its second-generation Apple Watch this fall around the time it debuts the iPhone 7. Apple is estimated to have sold 2.3 million Apple Watches in the March quarter and 13.2 million units during its first year of availability. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News