SAN FRANCISCO: Apple continued to dominate the smartwatch market with a 41 percent share, as global smartwatch shipments rose by 37 percent in the second quarter of 2018, a Counterpoint report on Friday.
The US-based wearables, the big Fitbit, took second place with 21 percent market share, while Fossil was in third place with a share of four percent in the second quarter of 2018.
According to the & # 39; Global Smartwatch Tracker & # 39; From Counterpoint, smartwatch creators want to add mobile connectivity for single use cases, since 90 percent of smartwatches shipped today are not mobile.
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"Apple is catalysing the trend of" smartwatch as a standalone portable device "with the adoption of mobile connectivity, driving the new wave of portable wearables worldwide, great news for mobile operators," said Satyajit Sinha, Research Analyst, Counterpoint Research, in a statement.
"Battery life is a constant concern with smart watches, given their small batteries, but Apple, Samsung and Huawei consistently work on optimizing the software and overall design and adding components such as eSIM to make room for larger batteries.
The adoption of mobile Low Power Wireless Access (LPWA), technology, especially LTE-M in smartwatches, will also drive core targets in a smartwatch and at the same time extend the battery life, "Sinha added.
According to the market research firm, the transition to Androidwear OS still has not happened, as in Android for smartphones.
"This is partly due to less focus, less intuitive user interface (UI) and selective smartwatch OEM partnerships by Google in recent years for Androidwear OS," it said.
According to research director Neil Shah, despite the initial hype and traction of Apple Watch Series 3 in the first two quarters, "Apple iPhone users are actually choosing the Series 1 as a non-cellular option via a non-cellular third-generation model what surprising for many industrial viewers ".
"This also shows that Apple users prefer to opt for Series 3 if they want to add mobile connectivity, otherwise Series 1 remains the most popular model contributing to nearly nine out of ten Apple Watch that was released in the second quarter of 2018. sold, "Shah remarked.
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