Tag Archives: watch

Can Samsung Challenge Apple’s Smartwatch Dominance?

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When Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy Note 9 smartphone at its “Unpacked” event on Thursday, the Korean electronics giant had one more thing (quite literally) up its sleeve: a new smartwatch. The Galaxy Watch, Samsung’s first wearable device in the Galaxy family, comes in two sizes (42 and 46 mm) and, in line with the company’s previous smartwatches, it will feature a round design closer to a traditional (albeit huge) wrist watch than the rectangular Apple Watch. Like the latter, the Galaxy Watch will come with a bunch of health features as well as water resistance and an LTE option. Its standout feature could be the battery life though, which Samsung claims to be “several days” on a single charge.

As the following chart, based on IDC estimates, shows, Samsung has a lot of ground to make up if it wants to challenge Apple’s dominant position in the smartwatch market. In 2017, the Cupertino-based company shipped 17.7 million watches compared to Samsung’s 3.6 million.

chartoftheday_15035_worldwide_smartwatch_shipments_n

Smartwatches – The Next Big Thing That Wasn’t

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Source: Statista

When Apple introduced the Apple Watch in April 2015, many pundits expected smartwatches to become the next big thing and emulate the success of smartphones and tablets. And while the Apple Watch definitely made its mark and quickly became the most popular smartwatch out there, the market as a whole never really took off.

Doubts about the added benefit of smartwatches in between smartphones and considerably cheaper fitness armbands always lingered, and the lack of obvious killer features didn’t help broader adoption either.

In the past quarter, the global smartwatch market saw its first contraction, with worldwide shipments declining by more than 30 percent year-over-year. According to IDC’s estimates, shipments amounted to 3.5 million units between April and June this year, down from more than 5 million in the past year. While it needs to be noted that last year’s June quarter marked the launch quarter of the Apple Watch, it took both the smartphone and tablet markets years to see their first year-over-year declines after Apple had entered and thus made them the next big thing.

This chart shows estimated global smartphone shipments since Q2 2014.

Infographic: Smartwatches - The Next Big Thing That Wasn't | Statista
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