Apple is dominating the smartwatch market having shipped 7 million Apple Watches since the device went on sale in late April.
This is according to Canalys this week, which said Apple has shipped more smartwatches in the last two quarters than all of its competitors combined have shipped in the last five. The figures are based on Canalys’ Wearable Technology Analysis service; Apple has yet to publicly disclose exactly how many Apple Watches it has shipped.
In the third quarter, Apple was the only smartwatch vendor to ship more than 300,000 units, Canalys said. Close rival Pebble, which makes the eponymous Pebble range of smartwatches, shipped more than 200,000 units. Meanwhile, Samsung saw Gear smartwatch shipments decline ahead of the upcoming launch of its Gear S2; however, Canalys did not say how many units it shipped.
"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 Canalys analyst Daniel Matte, in a statement on Wednesday.
"Shipments are steadily increasing as it has greatly expanded the Watch’s channel footprint internationally," added Canalys vice president and principal analyst Chris Jones.
It is worth noting that Canalys draws a distinction between a smartwatch – which it defines as a multi-purpose device with an operating system that is capable of running third-party apps – and a wearable band, such as a fitness tracker, which meets a much narrower set of requirements and cannot run third-party apps.
When it comes to wearable bands, China’s Xiaomi leads the way, shipping more than 10 million Mi Bands during the third quarter.
"Aggressive pricing and frequent promotions have allowed it to hit ambitious sales targets, especially in China," Canalys said.
