When smartwatches were first announced, many were skeptical. After all the need to charge your watch every couple of days seemed silly, which is why there were many Swiss watchmakers who believed that their timepieces would continue to prevail. However if the latest data from Strategy Analytics is accurate, that is no longer the case.According to the numbers, it seems that the sales of smartwatches in Q4 2015 managed to pull ahead of that of smartwatches for the first time ever. The report claimed that in Q4, 8.1 million smartwatches were shipped versus the 7.9 million Swiss watches that were shipped. Breaking this down further, Apple and Samsung reportedly led the way in the shipment numbers.
Apple has yet to officially announce how many Apple Watches they have sold to date, but Strategy Analytics estimated that they accounted for 5.1 million of smartwatches shipped, while Samsung accounted for 1.3 million. Like we said, these aren’t official numbers so do take it with a grain of salt for now, but things are certainly looking up for Apple if they are true.
According to Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston, “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.”
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