In recent years , Apple has become quite closemouthed about the success of the Apple Watch . If it ’s supplying figures for that product , they ’re more probable to be CPU specs or serial numbers than unit sales , or vague proclamations , like a record number of new users corrupt one during the recent quarter .
alternatively , we have had to fall back on third - party sources of information . Back in 2016 , it was take that the Apple Watch had leapfrog Rolex as the most pop picket , backed up by ananalysis of social citation ; this was later confirm by prescribed figures from theSwiss vigil diligence . However , this effort was less impressive than you might recall . According to data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry , the body politic as a whole exported between seven and eight million mechanically skillful watch per year lead up to the pandemic eld ; since 2021 , this figure has take down off at just oversix million unit . These are small routine in comparison to what would be expected from a major Apple product line .
The tricky thing , when we ’re trying to establish the Apple Watch ’s level of winner , is Apple ’s policy of combining all wearables , home and accessories product into one category , then providing gross sales design for that category as a whole . However , the figures in Apple ’s quarterly theme since mid-2017 suggest that the Apple Watch most potential account for the legal age of its habiliment sales . The Apple Watch is expensive and seemingly pop enough to easily eclipse the category .
HomePods are a recess intersection , as are the AirPods Max . AirPods and AirPods Pro ca n’t be holler cheap , but compared to the Apple Watch , they have to sell importantly more building block to be relevant at all . And if you look at Apple ’s cut-rate sale figures for wearables , you will find a pattern : they stand up speedily in the first one-fourth of the class , just at the time when the first three month of a new Apple Watch simulation are in the book . In other word , we can say with reasonable self-assurance that the luck of the article of clothing / family category closely mirror the succeeder of the Apple Watch itself .
What has been noticeable about wearables sales agreement for the past two year is that they still spike in the December quarter , but nowhere near as gamy as in 2021 and , in some cases , 2020 . This is all the more surprising when you consider that Apple introduce the higher - priced Apple Watch Ultra a year ago , which was supposed to improve this sales pic . or else , we see the diametrical tendency . Wearables sales in themost recent December quarterwere 11 percent down on the same period in the premature twelvemonth , which was itself 8 percent down on the yr before that .
What’s going on with the Apple Watch?
The Apple Watch is far from sentence , and there ’s a slew of fluctuations croak on . But there are definitely some vexation for Tim Cook . Two factors have belike get together to cause the declension .
In 2020 and 2021 , health concerns during the Covid-19 pandemic believably helped the Apple Watch to increase sales figures . robotic hand - wash sensing nagged you to scrub for a full 20 seconds . The blood - oxygen sensor introduced in 2020 just before the pandemic engulfed the man was able to detect a rapid drop in blood - oxygen grade , one of the main indicators for the disease . )
But Covid limitation have been mostly lifted for two years now , and the disease has disappeared from the front pages of newspapers . Which means a running game of success has ended for the Apple Watch . And now new watchesdon’t even have the pedigree - O sensor enable , which will only further hurt sales .
The innovations in the most late two generations of Apple Watch arenot earth - shattering , either : clang detection , a newer chip , anddouble hydrant . All prissy things to have , but not enough to push glad owner of previous models to advance . So where does that leave the Apple Watch ? Another health crisis is n’t potential to come anytime soon , and the pattern of iteration rather than instauration suggests that ’s not going to change anytime soon .
We ’re carry to seeApple Watch Series 10 , Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3rd multiplication , runningwatchOS 11 , set up in September 2024 at the company’sGlowtime event(seehow to watch the September effect ) . If you ’re in the grocery store for a fresh Apple Watch , see ourApple Watch purchasing template , round - up of thebest Apple Watch deals , and advice on whether you shouldbuy Apple Watch now or wait . You might also be concerned in what othernew Apple productsare come this year , and when is thenext Apple event .
This clause originally appeared onMacweltand was translated and delete by David Price .
This article primitively appeared on our sister publicationMacweltand was translated and localized from German .
