Apple, as a smartwatch brand, has been virtually unchallenged in the segment for a while now. And the company continues its dominance in the smartwatch market. According to a new report released by Counterpoint research, Apple continued its domination in the smartwatch market with a 41% share in Q2 2018. The global smartwatch shipments grew 37% YoY during the quarter, as revealed by Counterpoint's "Global Smartwatch Tracker" report. US-based wearables major Fitbit grabbed the second spot with 21% market share while Fossil was in the third spot with a 4% share in the second quarter of 2018.
Counterpoint stated that smartwatch makers are looking to add cellular connectivity for standalone use-cases as 90% of smartwatches shipped today are not cellular-capable. "Apple is catalysing the trend of 'smartwatch as a standalone wearable device' with the adoption of cellular connectivity, which is driving the new wave of cellular connected wearables globally, great news for mobile operators," Satyajit Sinha, Research Analyst, Counterpoint Research, said in a statement.
"Battery-life is a constant concern with smartwatches, given their tiny batteries. However, Apple, Samsung and Huawei are consistently working to optimise the software and the overall design and adding components such as eSIM to make space for bigger batteries. The adoption of cellular Low Power Wireless Access (LPWA), technology especially LTE-M in smartwatches will also drive core use-cases in a smartwatch while boosting battery life," Sinha added.
According to the market research firm, the shift to Androidwear OS still has not happened like in Android for smartphones. "This is partly due to lesser focus, less intuitive user interface (UI) and selective smartwatch OEM partnerships by Google over the last few years for Android Wear OS," it said.
According to Research Director Neil Shah, despite the initial hype and traction of cellular-based Apple Watch Series 3 in the first two quarters, "Apple iPhone users are actually choosing the Series 1 as a non-cellular option over Series 3 non-cellular model which is surprising to many industry watchers".
"This also shows that Apple users are choosing Series 3 preferably if they want to add cellular connectivity, else Series 1 remains the most popular model contributing to almost nine out of ten Apple Watch sold in Q2 2018," Shah noted.
Apple also launched its cellular-based Apple Watch Series 3 in India earlier this year in partnership with Airtel and Reliance Jio.
With Inputs from IANS
