Apple Watch Shipments Increase 22% In 2018 Due To The Success Of The Series 4

According to recently-released data from Counterpoint Research, the shipments of Apple Watch increased 22% last year thanks to the Apple Watch Series 4’s popularity.

Apple says that although the Series 4 was only available for a quarter, it was the company's best seller during 2018.

Satyajit Sinha Analyst of Counterpoint Research pointed out that the growth in shipments of Apple Watch was due to the success of the Series 4 with 11.5 million units sold in 2018. It is believed this star performer’s popularity is because of its focus on some health features such as fall detection and ECG. Moreover, it proves how far the company has come with Apple Watch as a great health device.

Discussing the contribution of the series, he said:

Compared to 2017, Apple’s smartwatch market share is gradually dropping since there are more competitors; however, Apple remains the market leader with 37% of the market share. The next positions are Imoo and Samsung with 10% and 9%, respectively. It is estimated that Apple’s market share will drop 1 more point in 2019.

According to Counterpoint, the top 5 smartwatch models made up nearly half of the total sales, 48% to be exact. Amongst them, there are 3 models coming from Apple: the first-placed Series 4, the second-placed Series 3, and the fifth-placed Series 2. Other two models are the third-placed Fitbit Versa and the fourth-placed Imoo Z3.

It is difficult to estimate Apple's sales as the company keeps its shipments secret. Therefore, the clue is only from sales channels surveys. There is disagreement between IDC and Counterpoint about several points. Specifically, 27.4% is the percentage that IDC gives to Apple and Samsung should be in the 5th instead of the 3rd place. However, there is one thing that both companies agree.

According to IDC’s prediction, Apple Watch will keep its leader place in the market of smartwatch because Android smartwatches only have great sales in China, and Tizen watches by Samsung are in the 5th place.

Although the importance of ear-worn devices is increasing, Apple smartwatches will not be affected, says IDC.

It is likely that the WatchOS 6 launch will bring good positive impact with its standalone fitness tracking in 2019 as it may push owners to upgrade their devices.