Over 100 million people own an Apple Watch according to a report from Above Avalon (a site dedicated to examining Apple). That sounds like an extremely impressive number until you realize that it only accounts for around 10% of iPhone owners.
That said, it’s a number that is likely to rapidly grow, as in 2020 there were 30 million new Apple Watch users according to this report, which is more than the number of Apple Watch users in 2015, 2016, and 2017 combined. In other words, the popularity of Apple Watch keeps growing, and there’s no sign of it slowing down.
The Apple Watch currently has the fourth largest install base of Apple products, behind the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which is pretty good given that the first Apple Watch only hit stores in 2015. But based on the current sales trajectory, this report predicts that it will overtake the Mac by 2022.
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A wearable win
In the US, the Apple Watch is doing even better, with 35% of iPhone owners having one, and the report predicts that new features like the ability to use an Apple Watch to unlock your iPhone will help further drive growth.
Interestingly, the report also points to things like the appeal of being able to view things on your wrist, track health and fitness stats, and handle some tasks that you’d otherwise use a phone for, as some of the reasons for the Apple Watch’s success. That’s interesting because to varying degrees other smartwatches have the same selling points, yet haven’t seen anywhere near the same success.
According to Counterpoint, Apple had a 51.4% share of global smartwatch shipment revenue in the first half of 2020, despite its wearable only being useful for iPhone owners, while Samsung – despite selling more phones and making similarly capable smartwatches (which are compatible with non-Samsung handsets too) – only had a 7.2% revenue share.
Huawei and Garmin are slightly up on Samsung, but still well, well below Apple, and all other companies – including Fitbit and those that make Wear OS watches – have just a tiny sliver of the revenue share.
So presumably there’s either some quality that makes the Apple Watch range more desirable (perhaps its ecosystem, which is also highlighted in the Above Avalon report), or iPhone owners are simply more likely to embrace wearable tech.
Whatever the reason, it looks like wearables might have a bright future – or at least those with an Apple logo on them might.
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Via 9to5Mac
