Smartwatch sales fall sharply as consumer interest fades

Smartwatch shipments declined by 51.6% year-on-year, suggesting that consumers are not ready for connected timepieces just yet, according to new research.

The study, from market analysts IDC, found that the Apple Watch remained the market leader but it shipped just over one million units in the third quarter of 2016 (July – September).

During the same period in 2015, it shipped 3.9 million. Of the five leading brands, only Garmin showed growth but its figures remained low.

IDC looked only at smartwatch brands which run third-party apps in its market report.

It found that:

Apple’s year-on-year decline in terms of its Watch device shipments was 71.6%

Garmin was the only brand to show growth with shipments of 0.6 million in the third quarter of 2016 compared with 0.1 million in 2015

Samsung shipped 0.4 million of its Gear and Gear2 watches in both 2015 and 2016

Lenovo, which makes the Motorola branded Moto 360, suffered the biggest drop with shipments down by 73.3%

Pebble also slowed from 0.2m to 0.1m shipments

Jitesh Ubrani from IDC, said: “It has become evident that, at present, smartwatches are not for everyone. Having a clear purpose and use case is paramount, hence many vendors are focusing on fitness due to its simplicity.”

The upcoming version of the Apple Watch is being branded as a fitness device rather than a luxury fashion accessory, tracking swimming activity with a special edition, in partnership with fitness giant Nike, is due to go on sale on Friday, 28 October.

View the full table below:

View the report here