Apple Watch shipments grow 22% in 2018, Series 4 outsells all other models

Even though it was only available in the final quarter of the year, the Apple Watch Series 4 outsold all other smartwatches in 2018.

The global smartwatch market – main players

Counterpoint Research says the Cupertino outfit accounted for 37% of the global smartwatch market in 2018, down 6% on the previous year. This is despite an increase in shipments of 22% during the year. Still well ahead of the next names on this list, Apple’s share is expected to decline further in the coming years as the number of players increases.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

In second place, with 10% of the global market, is a little known company outside of Asia called Imoo. It sells a range of devices but is best known for children’s smartwatches.

Samsung took the third spot with 9%, only slightly ahead of Fitbit with 8%. A recent entrant, the “mass-appeal” Versa smartwatch propelled Fitbit up the rankings in the past year. Amazfit, with its popular line of sports watches followed closely behind with 5%.

Smartwatch market share

A big reason for Apple’s success in 2018 were sales of the its ECG enabled Series 4 watch. The device only launched last September but overtook all others to climb to top of the pops.

Counterpoint Research had previously said that Series 1 was a more popular model last year than Series 3. It has, however, revised the figures and now puts Series 3 as the second best selling smartwatch in the world last year.

“Apple Watch shipments grew a solid 22% YoY in 2018. Apple Watch Series 4 was the star performer,” said Counterpoint Research Analyst, Satyajit Sinha.

“It sold 11.5 million units during 2018, making it the best-selling model for the year. We believe its success was due to its focus on health-related features like ECG and fall detection. Further, it speaks volumes of how far Apple has come with Apple Watch as a meaningful health device.

The Fitbit Versa was the third most popular smartwatch in the world last year. It was followed by Imoo Z3 and Apple Watch Series 2. Most people reading this article have probably never heard of Imoo Z3. This is a kids smartwatch that comes with built-in GPS and 4G network support. Counterpoint says the top five smartwatch models accounted for nearly half of all sales in 2018.

It should be stressed that these are all estimates. Apple does not disclose figures on smartwatch sales, instead choosing to slot them into the “Wearables, Home and Accessories” category.

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