Apple Watch growing faster than the industry – report

Apple Watch continues to lead the growing smartwatch market as the Series 7 device appears to be gaining converts in new places, according to Counterpoint.

Apple is in a different time zone

“Apple maintained a solid lead and increased 14% year-on-year in Q1 2022,” said Counterpoint.

That’s particularly interesting as overall the market grew 13%, which suggests the iPhone maker’s smartwatch is seizing share.

“Although Apple and Samsung continued to grow year-over-year, other major brands such as Garmin and Fitbit performed weakly in the European market during this period,” they said. India is the fastest growing market of the lot. You can download an infographic detailing the information here.

The analysis also observes that Apple saw some first quarter benefits as a result of shipments carried in from the preceding quarter following the late launch of Series 7. Smartwatch sales grew in most regions, the report says, observing “only Europe recorded flat growth”.

What are the percentages?

Well, Apple leads the market with 36% share. Samsung (10%) is in second place, Huawei third with 7%. Fitbit and Garmin account for 7% between them. This follows a consistent trajectory. The same analyst pointed to growth across 2021, during which the company also took half the revenue in the smartwatch market.

Counterpoint recently predicted continued growth for Apple in the smartwatch market. Associate Director Sujeong Lim said:

“This popularity appears to be higher among the younger generation, making Apple an irreplaceable market leader. Of course, everything was possible because the high performance of the product and the excellent connection among supported iOS devices…”

“We believe that Apple’s market share is likely to rise further by the end of this year.”

Coming soon: Apple Watch Series 8

Apple Watch Series 8 is expected to get much better battery life, enabling it to be used day and night at last.  In the run up to the hardware introduction, Apple at WWDC introduced us to new features in watchOS 9. These include:

• New watchfaces.
• New workout types and better insight into heart conditions, including Afib.
• On-screen guidance for Fitness+.
• The new Sleep Insights app.
• A medication reminders app.
• Quick Actions and a range of accessibility improvements.

“This fall, watchOS 9 takes the Apple Watch experience to the next level with scientifically validated insights across fitness, sleep, and heart health, while providing users more creative ways to make their Apple Watch their own,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer

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