Apple’s introduction of the Apple Watch Series 3 this past September marked a huge turning point for the company’s venerable smartwatch. Thanks to the inclusion of built-in cellular connectivity, the Apple Watch for the first time was able to fully live and breathe without having to be continuously tethered to an iPhone.
Coupled with beefed up internals, not to mention a wider array of watch bands, it’s no surprise that the Apple Watch Series 3 was an immediate hit. And though Apple still refuses to divulge specific sales information, Tim Cook during Apple’s recent earnings report boasted that Apple Watch sales during the 2017 holiday quarter were record-breaking.
In light of that, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Apple dominated the wearables market towards the end of 2017. According to research data published by IDC earlier today, Apple Watch sales during the 2017 December quarter checked in at 8 million units. In turn, Apple’s share of the wearables market jumped from 14.4% to 21% year-over-year.
IDC’s report reads in part:
4Q17 was the first quarter that Apple held the market leader position all to itself after spending several quarters close behind Fitbit or Xiaomi. Apple is catching the market at the right time with many users of basic wearables moving on to smartwatches and cellular connectivity (available on select Series 3 Watches) is earning a warm reception among end users, if only for the convenience of leaving their smartphone behind. The late-year push of 8.0 million units separated Apple from the competition to emerge as the overall leader of the wearables market for the year.
With respect to marketshare during the 2017 holiday quarter, Fitbit came in second place with a 14.2% share, followed by Xiaomi and Garmin with respective shares of 14.2 and 13%.
