Smartwatch sales declined 51 percent worldwide, Apple’s market share drops by 30 percent

Could the world be losing interest in smartwatches?

According to a recent report by IDC claims that between Q3 2015 and Q3 2015 the global smartwatch market has declined by more than half. The report goes on to say that while 5.6 million units were shipped in Q3 2015, that number declined to 2.7 million year over year.

It’s important to note however, that Q3 2015 was the first time the Apple Watch had widespread availability after a limited online launch while the second generation Apple Watch was only available in the last two weeks of Q3 2016.

Ramon Llamas, research manager for IDC’s wearables team, stated that these numbers represent the way smartwatch vendors are realigning.

“Apple revealed a new look and feel to watchOS that did not arrive until the launch of the second generation watch at the end of September. Google’s decision to hold back Android Wear 2.0 has repercussions for its OEM partners as to whether to launch devices before or after the holidays. Samsung’s Gear S3, announced at IFA in September, has yet to be released. Collectively, this left vendors relying on older, aging devices to satisfy customers,” said Llamas.

Despite this, Apple Watch remains the most popular smartwatch brand in the world, followed by Garmin, Samsung, Lenovo (Motorola) and Pebble. Apple’s individual smartwatch market share decreased from approximately 70 percent to 40 percent year over year in Q3 2016.

In addition however, Garmin experienced the largest annual increase, growing its market share from 2 percent to about 20 percent between Q3 2015 and Q3 2016.

Thanks to the Gear 2 smartwatches, Samsung finished Q3 2016 with a slightly higher market share, up to 14 percent from six percent, while both Motorola and Pebble saw their numbers inch a little lower.

Jitesh Ubrani senior research analyst for IDC mobile device trackers, agrees however that smartwatches are not for everyone, which emphasizes vendors’ need to be specific and deliberate in their decisions.

“Having a clear purpose and use case is paramount, hence many vendors are focusing on fitness due to its simplicity. However, moving forward, differentiating the experience of a smartwatch from the smartphone will be key and we’re starting to see early signs of this as cellular integration is rising and as the commercial audience begins to pilot these devices,” said Urbani in a statement.

In total however, the smartwatch market has contracted by 51.6 percent.

Related: Apple continues to rule smartwatch market with almost three times the popularity of Samsung

[source]IDC[/source]