Thanks to Apple Watch, smartwatches are now more popular than Swiss watches
According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global smartwatch shipments reached 8.1 million units in Q4 2015, compared with 7.9 million Swiss Watch shipments. It is the first time ever that smartwatches have outshipped Swiss watches on a global basis.
“We estimate global smartwatch shipments reached 8.1 million units in Q4 2015, rising a healthy 316 percent from 1.9 million in Q4 2014. Smartwatches are growing rapidly in North America, Western Europe and Asia,” Cliff Raskind, Director at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement. “Apple Watch captured an impressive 63 percent share of the global smartwatch market in Q4 2015, followed by Samsung with 16 percent.”
Steven Waltzer, Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, “We estimate global Swiss watch shipments reached 7.9 million units in Q4 2015, falling 5 percent from 8.3 million in Q4 2014. Global demand for Swiss watches is slowing down, and major players like Swatch are struggling to find growth.”
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “The Swiss watch industry has been very slow to react to the development of smartwatches. The Swiss watch industry has been sticking its head in the sand and hoping smartwatches will go away. Swiss brands, like TAG Heuer, accounted for a tiny 1 percent of all smartwatches shipped globally during Q4 2015, and they are long way behind Apple, Samsung and other leaders in the high-growth smartwatch category.”
Exhibit 1: Global Smartwatch vs. Swiss Watch Shipments in Q4 2015 Numbers are rounded. A “Swiss watch” is an iconic product category and is defined as a wristwatch produced and shipped from Switzerland. A “smartwatch” is an emerging product category and is defined as a computerized wristwatch with a high-level or expandable operating system produced and shipped from any country worldwide.
The full report, Smartwatches Outsell Swiss Watches in Q4 2015, is published by the Strategy Analytics Wearable Device Ecosystems (WDE) service, details of which can be found here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you do not have an Apple Watch on your wrist, you’re missing out!
Jean-Claude BiverThe Apple Watch cannot compete at all with European watches… I welcome the Apple Watch and thank them for helping to promote and prepare the wrist for us in the Swiss watch industry… The Apple Watch cannot compete with any prestigious watch from a prestigious brand. The only thing you might be able to do with your 18k gold Apple Watch is to melt it down and recoup the few grams of gold; end of story!
— Jean-Claude Biver, TAG Heuer CEO, September 2014
Here’s what makers of Swiss or any other watches should do: Push the idea of wearing of two watches, one on each wrist or two on one wrist, into vogue. Because once people start using Apple Watch, they aren’t going to want to leave it at home. Ever. They won’t want to go to dinner parties without their Apple Watch. And that’s bad, bad news for watchmakers not named Apple. Watch and see.
– MacDailyNews Take, April 16, 2015
