Apple was within striking distance of market leader Fitbit, which sold an estimated 4.4 million fitness trackers in the second quarter. With the announcement and release of the Apple Watch last year, interest in wearables surged, but a report by Argus Insights has found that demand for wearables has slowed significantly since November of last year.
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Because Apple won’t report official Apple Watch sales numbers, we have to rely on analyst estimates to get an understanding of how well the Watch is faring with consumers.
Vendors shipped a total of 18.1 million wearables in Q2, a 223.2 percent increase from the 5.6 million wearables sold in Q2 2014.
The Apple Watch is a full features smartwatch with a high entry price of $349. Other reports have suggested that the Apple Watch is eating into sales of traditional timepieces.
“About two of every three smart wearables shipped this quarter was an Apple Watch”, said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC. Not only is the Apple Watch the company’s debut product in the market, but it’s also so much more expensive than the competition.
“Fairly or not, Apple will become the stick against which other wearables are measured, and competing vendors need to stay current or ahead of Apple”, said Ramon Llamas, research manager for IDC’s wearables team.
In addition, IDC’s new report noted that the Apple is continuing to develop its watchOS platform, which could also play a role in increasing the device’s market share in the months ahead. “Apple has clearly garnered an impressive lead in this space and its dominance is expected to continue”.
Before it was officially announced in March, interest in the Apple Watch and sales of other smartwatches like the Moto 360, were taking away “mindshare” from fitness band type wearables like the Fitbit.
IDC’s latest tracker marks Apple’s first appearance on the wearables market leaderboard, which makes it all the more impressive that it has already reached the number 2 position overall.
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Other wearables of interest during Q2 included Xiaomi’s low-priced Michigan Ban, Garmin’s fitness trackers for runners, cyclists and swimmers, and Samsung’s Gear S and Gear Fit devices.
