Almost 7 million Apple Watches were shipped in two quarters of availability

Apple continues to dominate the smart watch market, holding onto its sizable lead through the second quarter of Apple Watch shipments. The company has now shipped nearly 7 million smart watches since launch, a figure in excess of all other vendors’ combined shipments over the previous five quarters. In Q3 Apple was the only smart watch vendor to ship more than 300,000 units. The quarter also saw the release of the Pebble Time Steel, which helped the company ship more than 200,000 total smart watches, while Samsung’s Gear shipments declined ahead of the Q4 release of the Gear S2. Vendors will continue to battle for position behind Apple in Q4 as a raft of new devices from a diverse set of companies hits the market. For example, both Fossil and Tag Heuer will be launching their first smart watches before the end of the year.

Fitbit and Xiaomi meanwhile lead the market for basic bands in Q3. Xiaomi’s Mi Band surpassed 10 million cumulative shipments during the quarter. Aggressive pricing and frequent promotions have allowed it to hit ambitious sales targets, especially in China. Fitbit managed to realize sequential growth in Q3, and its Charge HR band has continued to perform strongly since its introduction.

All eyes will be on Apple Watch sales during the Q4 holiday quarter as a barometer of the strength of the nascent smart watch market. ‘After experiencing significant supply chain constraints early on, Apple managed to overcome its production struggles with the Apple Watch and is building momentum going into Q4,’ said Analyst Daniel Matte. ‘Shipments are steadily increasing as it has greatly expanded the Watch’s channel footprint internationally.’ VP and Principal Analyst Chris Jones added, ‘watchOS 2 has brought native apps to the platform, and new colors and styles have refreshed the lineup, but Apple needs to continue to generate demand six months after launch.’

Wearable band shipment data is taken from Canalys’ Wearable Technology Analysis service, which provides quarterly market tracking, including country-level estimates. Canalys defines basic wearable bands as devices serving a specific set of purposes that act as accessories to smart devices, are designed to be worn on the body and not carried and cannot run third-party computing applications. Smart watches are multi-purpose devices that serve as accessories to smart devices, are designed to be worn on the body and not carried, run an operating system and are capable of running third-party computing applications. Bands are wearables designed to be wrapped around the body, including watches, and do not include activity trackers in the form of clips.