The good news is that most of the people who buy the Apple Watch like the product. The bad news is that not as many are buying the device as last year. Although the Apple Watch is still the leader in the new world of smart watches, holding a 47 percent market share in 2016, that figure is down from the 72 percent share it held in the second quarter of 2015, according to figures compiled by market research company IDC.
Apple’s lead in the smart watch category was also tempered by second quarter Apple Watch sales of 1.6 million units, down 55 percent from the 3.6 million units sold in the second quarter of 2015, when the device was first released.
Competitors Gaining
That means that Apple’s competitors such as Samsung, Lenovo, LG and Garmin, which IDC ranked ranked two through five, respectively, are gaining ground. Samsung had 16 percent market share in the second quarter, selling 600,000 units. That was up from 7 percent in the second quarter of 2015.
Lenovo’s market share also increased year over year, from 3 percent to 9 percent, as it sold 300,000 units in the second quarter of 2016. LG also saw a year-over-year increase in sales, improving its market share to 8 percent from 4 percent, and Garmin’s market share also doubled year over year, from 2 percent to 4 percent. Even smart watches in the “other” category upped their market share from 11 percent to 16 percent.
In total, smart watch makers sold 3.5 million units in the second quarter of 2016, compared to 5.1 million units in the same period a year ago.
Most Are Satisfied
Even though the dominance of the Apple Watch in its segment is slipping, those who buy the Apple smart watch are still enamored of the product. A survey of about 800 people by smart watch research company Wristly found that 94 percent of existing Apple Watch customers are still satisfied with their devices. However, the satisfaction rate among Apple Watch owners stood at 97 percent a year ago.
Fifty percent of those surveyed said they were very satisfied with the Apple Watch, while 44 percent counted themselves as generally satisfied. On the other hand, only 43 percent of those surveyed said they would recommend the purchase of an Apple Watch to a friend or colleague, while 17 percent said they would not recommend such a purchase. Wristly attributed those results to a common phenomenon among first-generation tech products — their owners are often glad they have them, but they wouldn’t necessarily endorse purchasing the product.
