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The Matthew Effect of global smartwatches is becoming increasingly pronounced.
Written by | Xiao Man
On August 7, 2019, market research firm Strategy Analytics released a report on the global smartwatch market share. The report shows that global smartwatch shipments reached 12.3 million units in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 44%, with Apple accounting for nearly half of the market share, far ahead of other smartwatch manufacturers.
It can be said that Apple occupies half of the global smartwatch market.
Image source:MacRumors Owner:MacRumors Apple Dominates
According to the report, Apple shipped 5.7 million smartwatches in the second quarter, increasing its market share to 46.4%. Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston pointed out that Apple remains the leader in the smartwatch market.
Just as Apple continuously seeks innovation in other hardware products, it does the same with the Apple Watch. From Apple Watch Series 1 to Apple Watch Series 4, the appearance has hardly changed. However, Apple is actively seeking change. In the latest Apple Watch Series 4, in addition to some conventional updates, Apple has added features such as electrocardiogram and fall detection from a health perspective.
Apple CEO Tim Cook praised the company’s efforts in healthcare during an interview in January this year. From Apple’s performance in smartwatches, it is indeed doing so.
However, Apple is still not satisfied with the current performance of smartwatches. Foreign media reported in June this year that Apple applied for a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a “watch band with optical sensors.” This patent design involves installing an “optical sensor” at the end of a flexible band, allowing users to take necessary photos without twisting their wrists.
Samsung Catches Up
Although Samsung’s smartwatch market share is not as high as Apple’s, its performance in the second quarter is still commendable.
According to foreign media reports, the report showed that Samsung sold 2 million smartwatches globally in the second quarter of 2019, more than doubling from 900,000 a year earlier. Over the past year, Samsung’s global smartwatch market share rose from 11% to 16%, making it the second-largest smartwatch supplier in the world.
Samsung’s increase in smartwatch market share in the second quarter is largely due to the contribution of the Galaxy Watch Active. In February 2019, Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch at a press conference, which is the thinnest product in the Galaxy Watch family and primarily targets health-conscious users.
Moreover, in March, Samsung announced a partnership with the well-known meditation app Calm, which will provide users with health monitoring features such as meditation, sleep, and deep breathing in conjunction with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active series.
Additionally, it is worth mentioning that Samsung recently released its latest smartwatch—Galaxy Watch Active 2. Whether it will allow Samsung to advance further in the smartwatch field remains to be seen based on the currently disclosed performance.
Fitbit Struggles for Survival
Unlike smartphone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung, Fitbit is a genuine wearable device manufacturer. While Fitbit products may not be as well-known as the Apple Watch in the smartwatch field for Chinese users, its performance in smartwatches should not be underestimated.
However, in the second quarter of 2019, Fitbit’s smartwatch sales were not impressive. The report indicated that Fitbit’s global smartwatch market share was only 10% in the second quarter, a decrease of 15% compared to the same period last year.
The poor sales of Fitbit in the second quarter were mainly due to the lackluster performance of the newly released smartwatch Versa Lite. Versa Lite, launched in March this year, is priced at $160 and can track users’ exercise and heart rate but lacks features like music storage.
Regarding the poor sales, Fitbit CEO James Park stated in the earnings report that Versa Lite did not receive favorable consumer feedback, and they learned that consumers prefer to spend more money on a more feature-rich smartwatch or are waiting for discounts on products.
Additionally, Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston stated that Fitbit finds it difficult to compete with the Apple Watch in the high-end smartwatch market, and its new Versa Lite product also struggles to expand in the low-end market. He believes that Fitbit must take swift action to restore shipment volumes, as other manufacturers are striving to capture customers with their products.
Leifeng Network Summary
Overall, the global smartwatch market is showing two significant trends: on one hand, the market capacity is continuously increasing, indicating that the acceptance of smartwatches among ordinary users is growing; on the other hand, the Matthew Effect in this market is becoming increasingly pronounced, with Apple emerging as a leader.
In the view of Leifeng Network, future smartwatches will increasingly trend towards specialization in functionality, such as health. However, from a market perspective, they will form an increasingly strong synergy with product categories like smartphones, which is also the reason why the Matthew Effect is becoming more evident in this field.
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