When smartwatches were still fairly new, it wasn’t surprising that many in the Swiss watch industry turned their noses up at the concept, believing that it would be hard for such gadgets to beat a classic timepiece. To a certain extent it is true as there will always be a place for more traditional watches, but the latest data is suggesting that Swiss watchmakers probably need to start paying closer attention.
In sales estimates from research firms Canalys and IDC, it seems that Apple might have actually sold more watches than the rest of the Swiss watch industry combined. This means that the Cupertino company has beaten out the likes of Rolex, Omega, and Swatch in the previous quarter combined, and that’s a pretty impressive feat.
However this report is pretty much in line with what we’ve been hearing, in which there are claims that Apple Watch shipments are on a rise. However these are not the official figures as Apple has yet to reveal exactly how many Apple Watches they’ve sold, but for the most part the company has been pretty optimistic about sales.
Of course this isn’t a completely fair comparison, especially when you consider that timepieces from Rolex and Omega can cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars compared to the Apple Watch, making them more inaccessible. However we’ve also seen how some watchmakers such as TAG Heuer try to innovate by launching a smartwatch of their own.
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