Just last week, Apple released its financial report for its fiscal 2017 first quarter ended 31 December 2016. The report was very impressive, breaking multiple records, and setting an all-time high record for devices including the Apple Watch. The company did not provide the exact figure for the number of Apple Watch sold, but according to research firm, Canalys, Apple sold about 6 million units of Apple Watch, taking almost 80% of total revenue for the smartwatch market in the last quarter.
According to Canalyst, Apple generated more than US$2.6 billion in revenue for Apple in Q4 2016. Its success is mainly due to its “streamlined marketing and re-aligned pricing, which helped it address a wider audience”. As you might remember, Apple reduced the price of its Apple Watch Series 1 multiple times over the past year. Canalys also estimates that Apple cumulatively shipped 11.9 million Watches in 2016, holding the market share of around 50% globally for the year.
Apart from Apple, Xiaomi also had a record quarter for its smartband shipments, reaching 5.5 million Mi Bands. Sadly, the Chinese company’s success isn’t enough to put them as one of the top 3 smartwatch vendors in 2016. Fitbit comes in second with 17% market share, followed by Samsung with 15%.
“In the coming quarters, Samsung is expected to push shipments of its Gear S3 Classic and Frontier. Also, Android Wear shipment volumes will bounce back significantly, as new products that were postponed due to the delay of Android Wear 2.0 will soon be launched. Apple’s smartwatch lead will increasingly be challenged by the rebounding competition.”
(Source: Canalys via: 9to5Mac)
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