Apple Watch Remains Best-Selling Wearable With 4.7 Million Shipments Last Quarter (theverge.com)

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Apple Watch Remains Best-Selling Wearable With 4.7 Million Shipments Last Quarter (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday September 4, 2018 @11:40AM from the top-of-the-charts dept.

According to research firm IDC, Apple sold 4.7 million Apple Watch units last quarter, capturing 17 percent of the global market. The only other company close on Apple's heels is Xiaomi, which "trailed Apple by two percentage points in market share and 500,000 unit shipments in the second quarter of the year," reports The Verge. From the report: Fitbit, Huawei, and Garmin are far behind, with IDC reporting that higher demand for more fully featured smartwatches is driving demand for Apple products and reducing the popularity of lower-cost fitness trackers. IDC stresses that this is a natural cycle for consumer electronics and that fitness-focused devices will still have a place in the market going forward. IDC says demand for its LTE-equipped Series 3 device largely drove Apple's wearable sales last quarter, and the device received a number of discounts at big-box retail stores that may have led to a surge in consumer purchases. Refurbished versions of the Apple Watch Series 3 also went up for sale on Apple's retail site starting in February.

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Say wut by Spy+Handler · 2018-09-04 11:47 · Score: 0

Apple with 17% of market share is 4.7 million units
Xiaomi with 15% of market share is 500,000 units
???
1. Re:Say wut by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 11:50 · Score: 0
  
  Comprehension FAIL. Quarterly shipment numbers are not the same thing as market share.
2. Re:Say wut by Joce640k · 2018-09-04 11:51 · Score: 1
  
  It's IDC.
  
  --
  No sig today...
3. Re:Say wut by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 12:10 · Score: 0
  
  Ok, where did they ship them off to, Narnia?
4. Re:Say wut by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 13:53 · Score: 0
  
  Ok, where did they ship them off to, Narnia?
  Not "where", "when". Last quarter is not the only time any one has ever purchased a smart watch.
5. Re:Say wut by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 16:17 · Score: 0
  
  "... trailed Apple by two percentage points in market share and 500,000 unit shipments..."
  So Xiaomi shipped 4.2 million. The summary is badly worded and somewhat ambiguous.
6. Re:Say wut by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-05 02:58 · Score: 0
  
  Ok, where did they ship them off to, Narnia?
  No.. to lala land.. where every reality denying Apple user lives..
  Soooo.... Hmm.. Apples and wearables.. well somebody is wearing something or someone.. maybe as a hat.. ?
Sold or shipped? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 11:48 · Score: 0

Sounds like they're sitting on a mountain of unsold inventory.
Meanwhile by chispito · 2018-09-04 11:55 · Score: 0

My $15 Timex still works better for telling the time and is running on the same battery it came with three years ago. To be fair, the battery is starting to run down (the Indiglo is getting super dim) and that got me to thinking, why not upgrade? So I have a Seiko 5 automatic (mechanical) watch on order.

--
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
1. Re: Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 11:57 · Score: 0
  
  Lamer
2. Re: Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 12:02 · Score: 0
  
  And my typewriter is better at writing letters than a PC. Whatâ(TM)s your point?
3. Re: Meanwhile by chispito · 2018-09-04 12:03 · Score: 0
  
  And my typewriter is better at writing letters than a PC. Whatâ(TM)s your point?
  I have no doubt your typewriter is better at typing that whatever you are using.
  
  --
  The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
4. Re: Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 12:44 · Score: 0
  
  Cocksucker
5. Re:Meanwhile by ShanghaiBill · 2018-09-04 12:52 · Score: 0
  
  My $15 Timex still works better for telling the time
  A smart watch does not just tell time (although it does that well). It receives texts, makes phone calls, takes photos, and runs apps. If you are comparing it to a $15 Timex, then you are completely missing the point.
  The early Apple Watch was sort of pointless since it didn't do the phone calls or texts without an iPhone within BlueTooth range. But that gaping hole has been fixed, and the latest Apple Watch is a tiny standalone smart phone.
  My wife has an Apple Phone and she is very happy with it.
6. Re:Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 12:58 · Score: 0
  
  Do not want. Got a Suunto. Nice looking. Battery last 2 weeks easy. GPS+GLONASS tracking and recording, temperature, barometer, altimeter.. Does not do a iota more than needed. Can use the watch face and the stainless steel rim around it to break glass in emergency. Can dive it with to about 2 meters, perhaps 10 though does not have the diving functions - those are on another one.
  Oh, did I mention, it is same money as the entry level iwatch ejaculate.
7. Re: Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 14:09 · Score: 0
  
  Ya with the special extended jobs character set.
8. Re:Meanwhile by ShanghaiBill · 2018-09-04 14:18 · Score: 2
  
  Do not want. Got a Suunto. Nice looking. Battery last 2 weeks easy.
  But it can't make or receive phone calls or texts.
  Dick Tracy wouldn't be caught dead wearing one.
9. Re:Meanwhile by chispito · 2018-09-04 14:49 · Score: 1
  
  My $15 Timex still works better for telling the time
  A smart watch does not just tell time (although it does that well). It receives texts, makes phone calls, takes photos, and runs apps. If you are comparing it to a $15 Timex, then you are completely missing the point.
  The early Apple Watch was sort of pointless since it didn't do the phone calls or texts without an iPhone within BlueTooth range. But that gaping hole has been fixed, and the latest Apple Watch is a tiny standalone smart phone.
  My wife has an Apple Phone and she is very happy with it.
  Yes but I do not want all of that attached to my wrist any more than I want to use Google Glass. If I want to use my phone--guess what--I pull out my phone. When I do not want to use my phone, it stays put away.
  
  --
  The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
10. Re:Meanwhile by chispito · 2018-09-04 14:50 · Score: 1
  
  A smart watch does not just tell time (although it does that well).
  Oh, and: only compared to no watch at all.
  
  --
  The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
11. Re:Meanwhile by SuperKendall · 2018-09-04 15:21 · Score: 1
  
  Speaking literally, wouldn't the Apple Watch be better for telling the time since it can actually speak... :-)
  To me an Apple Watch is just as much an advancement as moving from a flip phone to a smart phone. And each iteration gets notably better - this year I plan to move from the first Apple Watch (the haughtily named "series 0") to whatever update they put out - not because it's not working, but because I would like a cell watch now that a second model is arriving to refine that.
  That's great that all you want or need is time but when that's all watches did I stopped wearing them.
  
  --
  "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
12. Re:Meanwhile by ShanghaiBill · 2018-09-04 17:39 · Score: 1
  
  If I want to use my phone--guess what--I pull out my phone.
  But then you still need to carry your phone with you everywhere you go.
  That may be ok for you, but there are people out there that don't automatically think that something big and clunky is obviously better than something small and light that can do the same thing.
13. Re: Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 17:50 · Score: 0
  
  Thanks old man! What are your opinions of kids getting on your lawn?
14. Re:Meanwhile by Anubis+IV · 2018-09-04 17:55 · Score: 1
  
  When smartphones came along, we put up with the worse recharge times because the benefits were clear to us. But as a watch wearer, I’m hard-pressed to come up with a benefit of the current smart watches that would justify its cost or the need to recharge it on a nightly basis.
  My current dumb watch (Timex? Casio? I couldn’t even tell you) cost me $40, has lasted for years on its original battery, syncs with the atomic clock every night so that I never need to worry about it’s accuracy, stays on my wrist when I swim or go in the shower or go to sleep or wherever, can have its time zone changed as I travel, and otherwise doesn’t try to be too clever for its own good, since I don’t care about the other features. It replaced my previous unit of the exact same model, which met an untimely end.
  I find the Apple Watch interesting, but it doesn’t really do anything different for me unless I pair it with some Air Pods, at which point we’ve just added $200 more to the asking price. I don’t need to listen to podcasts when my phone isn’t handy that much, and I loathe the idea of products in categories that should be able to last for a decade or longer only lasting a few years on account of their batteries.
15. Re: Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 19:44 · Score: 0
  
  It receives texts and other notifications. It can pick up calls, though there are no microphone and speaker. These are on your specialized headset (with 3.5mm jack) where they belong
16. Re: Meanwhile by Plumpaquatsch · 2018-09-05 00:17 · Score: 1
  
  Ya with the special extended jobs character set.
  It's called Unicode, it's a standard and supported by all websites that matter.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
17. Re: Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-05 00:56 · Score: 0
  
  yeah, and that typewriter is also OMG 3 years of age now!
  we need to upgrade him ASAP
  for limited price of 47 000$
  this week only!
18. Re:Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-05 01:02 · Score: 0
  
  It really isn't an advancement like going from a flip phone to a smart phone though. Watches haven't been about telling time in a very long time. They're jewelry and/or status symbols, plain and simple. And the Apple Watch isn't very pretty and doesn't cost enough to be any good as jewelry/status symbols.
19. Re: Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-05 01:22 · Score: 0
  
  This website matters; you don't.
20. Re:Meanwhile by DontBeAMoran · 2018-09-05 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  So you went from a digital watch, which is a pretty neat idea, to a mechanical watch?
  Isn't that like a downgrade?
  
  --
  #DeleteFacebook
21. Re: Meanwhile by DontBeAMoran · 2018-09-05 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  #AllCharactersMatter
  
  --
  #DeleteFacebook
22. Re:Meanwhile by DontBeAMoran · 2018-09-05 02:23 · Score: 1
  
  Dick Tracy wouldn't be caught dead wearing one.
  Why should we care what that guy thinks? He's a dick.
  
  --
  #DeleteFacebook
23. Re:Meanwhile by Camembert · 2018-09-05 14:35 · Score: 1
  
  Mechanical watches are charming. Yes, quaint but fascinating that something without electronics can be accurate to a few seconds per day. Beautiful.
24. Re:Meanwhile by chispito · 2018-09-06 03:56 · Score: 1
  
  So you went from a digital watch, which is a pretty neat idea, to a mechanical watch? Isn't that like a downgrade?
  From a strict technological standpoint: yes. But having a small mechanical machine on your wrist that harvests energy from your movements to keep time is just so much more fun than something electronic. And I still consider it a better timepiece than a smart watch because the time is always visible.
  
  --
  The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
25. Re:Meanwhile by Plumpaquatsch · 2018-09-06 06:51 · Score: 1
  
  So you went from a digital watch, which is a pretty neat idea, to a mechanical watch? Isn't that like a downgrade?
  From a strict technological standpoint: yes. But having a small mechanical machine on your wrist that harvests energy from your movements to keep time is just so much more fun than something electronic. And I still consider it a better timepiece than a smart watch because the time is always visible.
  Yeah - and you don't really need the exact time. Ever. Because when you have a mechanical watch, the whole world will wait for you because you are so special.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Translation by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 12:28 · Score: 0

Apple users are far more likely to purchase completely unnecessary accessories for their smart phone.
I am shocked.
commentsubject by Falos · 2018-09-04 12:46 · Score: 1, Redundant

Coca-Cola Remains Best-Selling Soft Drink With 180 Billion Beverages Last Quarter
This isn't news. Pretending otherwise insults us both.
Even shills are more discrete. This is tour-guide bullshit.
1. Re:commentsubject by Plumpaquatsch · 2018-09-05 01:34 · Score: 1
  
  Coca-Cola Remains Best-Selling Soft Drink With 180 Billion Beverages Last Quarter
  This isn't news. Pretending otherwise insults us both.
  Well, when the usual headline was "Coca-Cola is a complete failure", then yes, it would be news. Pretending otherwise only insults yourself.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
2. Re:commentsubject by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-05 02:58 · Score: 0
  
  Pretending this was a triumphant victim overturn squanders your credibility, but doesn't really "insult yourself". I suppose the phrase sounded more clever in your head.
3. Re:commentsubject by Freischutz · 2018-09-05 03:45 · Score: 1
  
  Coca-Cola Remains Best-Selling Soft Drink With 180 Billion Beverages Last Quarter
  This isn't news. Pretending otherwise insults us both.
  Even shills are more discrete. This is tour-guide bullshit.
  No, maybe not, but it is still fun to rub this in the faces of people who predicted the Apple Watch would be a complete and utter flop and get reactions like the one you just gave.
A drop in the buckef by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 13:03 · Score: 0

There are *billions* of people on the planet, this is less than an error margin
1. Re:A drop in the buckef by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 16:21 · Score: 0
  
  Yep, but selling 4,7million useless devices with huge profit margin is a news to Apple share holders. There is a sucker born every minute, and while every idiot on planet already has a iPhone, Apple can still sell their exiting iBelievers more iCrap.
2. Re: A drop in the buckef by baker_tony · 2018-09-05 11:00 · Score: 1
  
  Damn, someone needs to chill the fuck out!
3. Re:A drop in the buckef by Camembert · 2018-09-05 14:39 · Score: 1
  
  It seems that many people find it useful.
The real news by Tough+Love · 2018-09-04 13:48 · Score: 1

The real news is, Xiaomi came out of nowhere and pulled up within 2% of Apple. Looks like Apple will be knocked out of first place pretty soon. And keep an eye on Huawei too, grew 118% YoY to 6.5%

--
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
1. Re:The real news by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 14:13 · Score: 0
  
  Huawei is supposed to be having a new one coming out. That's the one ill be looking for.
2. Re:The real news by GrandCow · 2018-09-04 22:15 · Score: 2
  
  Never fails. The guaranteed "Apple is dying/dead" comment."
  
  Take a bow, you did it!
  
  --
  "Well kids, you tried your best, and you failed. The lesson is, never try." -Homer Simpson
3. Re:The real news by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-04 23:10 · Score: 0
  
  The real news is, Xiaomi came out of nowhere and pulled up within 2% of Apple. Looks like Apple will be knocked out of first place pretty soon. And keep an eye on Huawei too, grew 118% YoY to 6.5%
  And what are the margins on Xiaomi's and Huawei's stuff?
  Apple doesn't care about marketshare, they care about 'profit share'.
4. Re:The real news by Plumpaquatsch · 2018-09-05 01:37 · Score: 1
  
  The real news is, Xiaomi came out of nowhere and pulled up within 2% of Apple.
  They come out of China, and have been selling Smartwatches for years. Which comes to the surprise only of a complete idiot.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
5. Re:The real news by organgtool · 2018-09-05 02:38 · Score: 1
  
  There's a huge difference between predicting "Apple is dying/dead" and stating that Apple will likely be surpassed in the near future in a single market segment.
6. Re:The real news by Freischutz · 2018-09-05 03:51 · Score: 2
  
  There's a huge difference between predicting "Apple is dying/dead" and stating that Apple will likely be surpassed in the near future in a single market segment.
  Apple makes high end equipment, the fact that Xiaomi is now moving into the medium to low-end market and will be outselling Apple in terms of devices sold does not require any kind of prescience since that is a market segment that Apple has historically not bothered with. This revelation that Xiaomi is hoovering up the low end of the market is more of a *yawn* than anything else.
7. Re:The real news by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-05 06:49 · Score: 0
  
  Your quite the ass arnt ya. Typical apple apologist.
8. Re:The real news by Tough+Love · 2018-09-05 09:36 · Score: 1
  
  And Apple, which once owned 100% of the smart watch category, now has a mere 17% of the segment and looks likely to shrink further.
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
9. Re:The real news by Plumpaquatsch · 2018-09-05 10:56 · Score: 1
  
  And Apple, which once owned 100% of the smart watch category, now has a mere 17% of the segment and looks likely to shrink further.
  And again you prove to be a complete and utter idiot, who can't even remember babbling endlessly about how the Apple Watch came out over a year after the Samsung Galaxy Gear, which was much better anyway. A truly tragic and hilariously funny case of brain damage on your side. And the size of your brain is the only thing shrinking.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
10. Re:The real news by Tough+Love · 2018-09-05 16:50 · Score: 1
  
  Apple cultists are so special
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
11. Re:The real news by Plumpaquatsch · 2018-09-05 21:46 · Score: 1
  
  Apple cultists are so special
  Dumb people doubling down on their stupidity are so "special". Do go on, even the other Apple Haters are laughing their heads off over your stupidity.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
12. Re:The real news by Tough+Love · 2018-09-05 22:28 · Score: 1
  
  Apple's share of the smart watch market fell precipitously from 70% a few years go to 17% today, and still falling fast.
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
13. Re:The real news by Plumpaquatsch · 2018-09-06 06:49 · Score: 1
  
  Apple's share of the smart watch market fell precipitously from 70% a few years go to 17% today, and still falling fast.
  But Apple's sales are up in a market that Apple created. Oh, and that market includes $20 fitness bands from China. Like the ones that boost Xiaaomi's market share. Still aren't feeling dumb? That's because you are sooooo dumb.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
14. Re:The real news by Tough+Love · 2018-09-06 07:20 · Score: 1
  
  the Apple Watch has been losing market share. Rivals such as Fitbit and Garmin have mounted successful comebacks causing a dip in Apple’s share from 43% to 34%
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Best-selling wearable? by PPH · 2018-09-04 14:06 · Score: 2

I bet Depends sells more than this.

--
Have gnu, will travel.
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suckers by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-05 00:33 · Score: 0

All I can say.
Time will put everything in it's places.