Research firm Strategy Analytics, has revealed that the Apple Watch is sofar the ‘star performer’ in the smartwatch market, as they more than quadrupled to 5.3 million units in the second quarter of this year when compared to the same period in 2014.
Strategy Analytics director Cliff Raskind said that the predictions of (Apple CEO) Tim Cook’s first product flopping have been greatly exaggerated.
“While existing smartwatch vendors held their own and even grew modestly in some cases, the story in the second quarter was really all about Apple raising the tide for all.”
Apple has not disclosed its smartwatch sales figures yet, but Raskind estimated that some four million units were shipping during the second quarter of this year giving it about 75% of an overall market that grew 457% in a quarter-over-quarter comparison.
However, other analysts, have offered lower estimates of Apple Watch sales while Apple has remained mum about those numbers.
A total of 4.6 million smartwatches were shipped globally last year, according to Strategy Analytics.
“Apple Watch has clearly raised the bar for the global smartwatch industry,” Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston said in a release.
The research estimated that South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung was the second-place smartphone seller in the second quarter, shipping 400,000 units.
In a quarterly earnings report released on late Tuesday, Apple folded smartwatch revenues into an ‘other’ category that included money made from sales of accessories such as Beats headphones.
Revenue posted for ‘other’ doubled to $2.6 billion from the same quarter last year.
Apple reported that its profit jumped 38% to $10.7 billion on surging iPhone sales, compared to $7.7 billion in the same period last year.
The Apple Watch is the first new product line introduced since 2010.
Via TOI
