Apple Is Back To Being the World's Top Wearable Maker

Apple is once again the biggest selling producer of wearables after its third-generation Apple Watch, released in September, helped it pip China's Xiaomi to the post. TechCrunch reports: The new device, Apple's first that connects to the internet without being tethered to a smartphone, took the U.S. mobile giant to 3.9 million shipments in the recent Q3 2017, according to new data from Canalys. The firm estimates that the gen-three version accounted for just 800,000 shipments, due to supply issues, which bodes well for Apple coming into the lucrative holiday season. That figure was a big jump on 2.8 million shipments one year previous. It also gave Apple 23 percent of the market, putting it fractionally ahead of the 21 percent for Xiaomi, the Chinese firm that was briefly top of the industry for the first time in the previous quarter. Apple's wearable division has enjoyed something of a renaissance this year, grabbing the top spot in Q1 for overall wearables the first time since Q3 2015. CEO Tim Cook said in Apple's most recent earnings report that Watch sales were up by 50 percent for the third consecutive quarter thanks to a focus on health services. As for the others: Fitbit took third in Q3 2017 for 20 percent, while phone makers Huawei (six percent) and Samsung (five percent) were some way behind in rounding out the top five. In proof of considerable fragmentation within the industry, "other brands" accounted for a dominant 25 percent, according to Canalys' figures.

unteathered

[roc97007]

> The new device, Apple's first that connects to the internet without being tethered to a smartphone [...]

About damned time. I'm currently wearing a Gear S that's been able to do that since 2014.

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[kamapuaa]

Right. Also electrical devices are all garbage, because during a storm the electricity gets knocked out. Plus, why by a house, when a hurricane could blow the roof off? Get with it sheeple! Now I won't buy anything unless it can be powered by hamsters in a wheel or sticking electrodes into a lemon.

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[Anonymous Coward]

I recognize this is English, but...

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[antdude]

How are their battery lives though?

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[roc97007]

How are their battery lives though?

With everything turned on, I'm getting about two days on a charge. It's a 3 year old battery, though. I'm thinking about changing it out and see if that improves.

The later versions have front facing cameras (do Dick Tracy - like facetime) wireless charging and look more like a real watch, (which is attractive to me) but I don't have a good enough use case to warrant the cost of trading up, yet. Also, I'm not wedded to Samsung -- am also interested in the Garmin with GPS incorporated into the watch. It'l

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[TheGrimmReaper]

so... it only matters who does it first? Well then... about your android phone...

Bullshit

[sexconker]

The top wearable maker has got to be Durex or Trojan.

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[sit1963nz]

Looking at some people, I don't think they were worn enough.

Re: Bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

They were, uh, holding it wrong.

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[gl4ss]

the watch has apps or at least app stubs however you like to call them..

a "featurephone" ? nah. whats the point. even featurephones have apps though, however you can't multitask on them(according to the 15 year old spec about what is what).

on a related note, the first iphone didn't fill the requirements for a smartphone in analyst categories prior to iphone. neither did wp7.

Biggest fish in a small pond

[93 Escort Wagon]

I own an Apple Watch, but I only know of two other people in my circle who have one - and one of those is my wife.

I do see them around occasionally - but it's quite obvious it's a niche market. What's anecdotally more notable is that I see significantly fewer fitness trackers than I did a couple years ago. I suspect that a lot of people simply gave up on them; and at least some of the remainder replaced them with a smart watch.

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[Anonymous Coward]

I was at a company meeting recently ( not Apple ) of ~12 people (some local, some from the parent office). 5 were wearing Apple watches. Just another anecdote that doesn't mean much - as yours.

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[maralatho]

Well, except that his anecdote was probably true.

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[MouseR]

Been an Apple developer since 1988. Coded on them since 1982. Stuck with the brand through salt and grime. Now been an iPhone developer for 10 years.

Know what? Can't be brought to give a hoot about a watch that will die of obsolescence in ~4 years and can't hold a full 24h.

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[sound+vision]

But our watch will be beautiful. It will be so big, and so beautiful, the people will have no choice but to buy it. Apple will be the #1 in portables... wearables... cybers... It's the greatest, believe me.

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[Anonymous Coward]

What you may be neglecting is that what is learned today can be applied in another way tomorrow. Sure it's a watch and may not have mass appeal, but as Apple learns to miniaturize components and apply them in different ways that are not attached to your wrist, there are far more opportunities ahead. I'd call it an investment in research that is also paying for itself.

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[TheRaven64]

I like the idea of a smartwatch, but the technology is not there yet. They're at the same stage that the Nokia Communicator was in the smartphone market: they show you that something is possible, but it's not really something you want to carry around. My watch is 5mm thick (close to the upper limit for a thing I can completely forget is on my wrist) and has a battery that lasts 3-5 years. A watch that's more than double that thickness, and doesn't even last a week between charges (sure, I can charge it m

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[jshackney]

The benefit of fitness trackers goes to agencies collecting and selling the data. Not to the generator of the data.

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[kamapuaa]

This is stupid. People can receive measurable health benefits from wearables, while I doubt fitbit is getting rich from that "some guy did 6,800 steps today" money.

Getting rich from trackers

[DrYak]

while I doubt fitbit is getting rich from that "some guy did 6,800 steps today" money.

Remember that a lot of countries still don't have universal true healthcare (unlike a sizeable chunk of Europe, Canada, etc.)
and that includes the US (and a few other developed countries aren't quite there yet like Switzerland).

There, healthcare is still managed by for-profit companies.

Their main concern sadly isn't to spread the cost across an as large population as possible to diminish the financial hit of an individual having an unexpected medical problem (that's the whole purpose of an actual, real insu

Apple saves your life!

[labnet]

Gruen (Australian ABC program that debates how the advertising industry influences you) spent about 5 minutes on the iWatch.
It said their initial marketing campaign positioning it as a luxury item failed. They couldn't compete with the Rolexes and Breitlings of the world.
So they have done a major re branding, positioning it as a life saving device.. literally they showed an online ad by apple (only had 1Million views) having real users telling stories about how the watch saved their lives!
Apparently its wor

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[Maavin]

Amen to that!

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[wwphx]

I'm still wearing mine (Time Steel), and will continue to do so until it dies. I may look to buy another one, but I think I'll wait until this one dies and then reevaluate how support is doing.

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[wwphx]

That's the thing that I don't get: your watch having to live on a charger overnight just doesn't appeal. I can get two weeks out of my Pebble if I turn it off at night. And the cost of the Apple Watch makes me flinch.

"Pip"

[Verdatum]

Pip: v. "to beat by a narrow margin" (British)

I learned something today!