Apple Watch With 51% Share Ranks No.1 In The Global Smartwatch Market In Q4 2018

According to a newly-released report, the global smartwatch shipments hit a new record of 18 million units in the Q4, 2018. And Apple Watch still maintained the first position with 51 percent global smartwatch market share.

The global smartwatch sales reached the highest of 45 million units in the full-year 2018, said Strategy Analytics, a market research company.

In particular, Apple shipped a total of 9.2 million smartwatch units in the global market in the Q4, 2018, increasing by 18 percent from 7.8 million smartwatches in the Q4, 2017.

Samsung ranked the second with 2.4 million smartwatch shipments in the global market, which accounts for 13 percent global smartwatch market share, skyrocketing from 5 percent market share in the same quarter one year ago.

According to Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics' Executive Director, the global market share in the smartwatch segment of Apple went down to 51 percent in the Q4, 2018, decreasing by 16 percent year-on-year. Apple Watch is losing its market share to Fitbit and Samsung whose retail present and rival smartwatch portfolios have significantly improved in 2018.

The third position belonged to Fitbit smartwatch brand with 13 percent global market share in the Q4, 2018, which triples that of the Q4, 2017 (only 4 percent).

Another key player, Garmin ranked the fourth and accounted for 6 percent global smartwatch market share in the Q4, 2018, remaining unchanged over the same period a year ago.

According to Mawston, combined together, four big players including Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, and Garmin accounted for 8/10 of all smartwatch shipment all over the world.

And regarding Samsung’s business result, Steven Waltzer, Strategy Analytics’ Industry Analyst, commented that Samsung continued to maintain its second position in the top biggest smartwatch brands worldwide. Its new Galaxy Watch is common in two markets of Asia and North America.

The analyst also explained about the skyrocketing growth of the smartwatch segment. He said: