Leading the way in the premium segment of the smartwatch market during Q3 was the Apple Watch, the most popular watch in the world. The device had its best third quarter ever with an annual gain in shipments of 7%, Also performing well was the second-generation variant of the budget-priced Apple Watch SE. During the quarter, Apple increased its lead over second-place Samsung.
Apple Watch increases its lead over Samsung in the premium smartwatch market
While lower shipments of legacy Galaxy Watch models were the main problem with Samsung’s numbers, it did see the Average Selling Price (ASP) for its timepieces rise as the more expensive Galaxy Watch 6 Classic had a higher proportion of sales than the pricier Galaxy Watch 5 Pro tallied during the same quarter last year.
Just a few percentage points behind Samsung with 14% of the global premium smartwatch market was Huawei with a 14% share. Huawei’s share in Q3 last year was less than 7% and the rebound was driven by a 56% year-over-year gain in overall smartwatch deliveries and a 122% gain in shipments of its premium HLOS timepieces. The Huawei Watch 4 and Watch 4 Pro series, all released during the second quarter of this year, achieved a high level of popularity in China as did the Watch GT 4 which was released in Q3 of this year.
Counterpoint Research Analyst Woojin Son said, “There is significant value in examining the growth drivers of the global smartwatch market in Q3 2023. Amid a global economic slowdown, most consumer device markets like smartphones are still experiencing stagnation compared to a year ago. In contrast, the smartwatch market has recorded YoY growth for two consecutive quarters in both premium and budget segments.”
