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Shipments of smartwatches exceed Swiss watches in Q4 2015 for the first time

By Cookie Monster - on 20 Feb 2016, 8:30am

Shipments of smartwatches exceed Swiss watches in Q4 2015 for the first time

 

Smartwatches are no longer just a fad as the latest figures from Strategy Analytics show. For Q4 2015, global shipments of smartwatches exceeded that of Swiss watches for the first time.

For those who are interested in figures and want some context, a total of 8.1 million smartwatches were shipped compared to 7.9 million Swiss watches. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, shipments of smartwatches increased a whopping 316%! What contributed to the drastic differences? Well, the Apple Watch of course!

Strategy Analytics estimated that Apple sold about 5.1 million Apple Watches, which gave the iPhone maker a 63% market share. On the other hand, Samsung only sold 1.3 million units and garnered 16% market share. Executive director Neil Mawston shared his views on the report:

“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.”

These figures are actually not surprising; Bloomberg reported that Swiss watch exports had the biggest decline in six years in October 2015. This year could see shipments of smartwatches gaining more momentum as they are predicted to have the biggest revenue potential among wearables. Should the Swiss be afraid of Apple now? We think they do now.

Source: Strategy Analytics via 9to5Mac

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