Apple doesn’t release the number of Apple Watches the company sells per quarter, instead opting to list the wearable in its “other products” category, which also includes Apple TV sales, as well as a number of other products.
That doesn’t stop analysts from estimating how well the company’s smartwatch is selling though. In this case, analysts suggest that Apple sold more than the entire Swiss watch industry combined in the last quarter.
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry includes, Rolex, Montblanc, TAG Heuer, Swatch and more. The Federation publicly released its Apple watch shipment statistics, comparing them to Canalys and the IDC’s numbers.
According to Canalys, Apple shipped more than 8 million Apple Watch units in the last quarter of 2017. In comparison, the Swiss watch making industry sold 6.3 million watches from October 2017 to December 2017.
“It was our best quarter ever for the Apple Watch with over 50 percent growth in revenue and units for the fourth quarter in a row and strong double-digit growth in every geographic segment,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook during the company’s earnings call on February 1st. “Sales of Apple Watch Series 3 models were also more than twice the volume of Series 2 a year ago.”
According to Canalys, the release of the Apple Watch Series 3 greatly affected the company’s sales as the wearable made up for a little less than half of the company’s smartwatch shipments for the year.
To an extent, these stats make sense given high-end watch manufacturers are targeting a very specific audience with their ultra-expensive time keeping devices.
That said, you could also argue that Apple’s smartwatch isn’t exactly affordable either, though its cost pales in comparison to a standard Rolex.
Source: Canalys, Swiss Watch Industry Via: Business Insider
