While it's unknown exactly how many units of the Apple Watch Apple have sold during the last quarter, most suggest that Apple is the dominant player in the smartwatch market. One research firm, however, suggests that Apple could own as much as a 75 percent market share.
Strategy Analytics says that Apple Watch shipments hit a huge four million units last quarter, meaning that Apple holds a vast majority of the smartwatch market share.
"Apple Watch launched in 16 major countries and saw decent take-up from iPhone loyalists in the United States and elsewhere," said Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics in the report. "Apple Watch has clearly raised the bar for the global smartwatch industry. The ball is now in the court of rivals, like Samsung, to respond."
The figures are by no means confirmed, but they do highlight the fact that Apple almost certainly considers the launch of the Apple Watch a success. The figure is also in line with a report by Fortune in which analysts were polled. Estimates ranged from 2.85 million to 5.7 million in the report, with the average being around 4.5 million.
Since these reports, Apple has announced its fiscal third-quarter results, however, it has added to the mystery of how well the Apple Watch sold by not announcing specific sales for the device. Since the release of its earning report, some analysts lowered their estimates, bringing the Fortune average down to around four million. Of course, Apple wasn't completely silent about the Apple Watch.
"Sales of the Watch did exceed my expectations, despite supply trailing demand at the end of the quarter," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a conference call.
Analysts suggest, however, that the trailing of sales is a little more drastic than some might expect. Slice Intelligence says that daily sales of the Apple Watch have fallen 90 percent since the launch of the device in the first week of July.
In any case, it is almost certain that Apple is the number one seller of smartwatches. Samsung holds second place in the market, but Samsung smartwatch sales are drastically lower than Apple, having reported shipments of 400,000 units during the last quarter. Before the launch of the Apple Watch, Samsung held a 73 percent market share with 700,000 units.
"Apple and Samsung together account for eight in 10 of all smartwatches shipped globally," said Strategy Analytics Senior Analyst Rajeev Nair in the report. "However, Samsung is a long way behind Apple and it will need to launch multiple new smartwatch models and apps across dozens of countries if it wants to reduce Apple's global smartwatch leadership in the coming months."
