Smartwatch market doubles in size, Samsung dominates

by Mark Tyson on 20 May 2014, 13:00

Tags: Samsung (005935.KS), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Sony (NYSE:SNE), PC

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Samsung is apparently ruling the smartwatch space, leading the pack with a 71 per cent market share, according to a report by research firm Strategy Analytics. The global market share of smartwatches has also experienced a year on year growth of 250 per cent, showing that the smartwatch space is definitely getting more and more attention from consumers.

In the first quarter of 2014, around 700,000 smartwatches were shipped from all manufacturers. Out of this, Samsung reportedly shipped 500,000 units and this doesn't include shipments of the latest Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit as they went on sale in April.

Whilst dominating the smartphone market with around 30 per cent marketshare, Samsung is now also leading the smartwatch race. Competitors such as Sony and Pebble are neck and neck with each other, both having 11 per cent of the market.

"The market was driven heavily by Samsung and its Galaxy Gear model, which is outperforming all major rivals like Motorola and Pebble," wrote analyst Neil Mawston. It is also worth noting that the shipment numbers don't represent how many smartwatches have actually sold to end customers, but it still gives an indication of what retailers are expecting to sell.

A previous IDC report predicts that wearable shipments should triple this year, and could hit 112 million shipments by 2018. Will this surge be due to the many upcoming smartwatches such as the Moto 360 and LG G Watch, both running on Google's OS designed for wearable devices, Android Wear, set to join the market in the next few months? Certainly Samsung's wearables have enjoyed little serious retail competition so far from the aforementioned Sony and Pebble or Qualcomm's underpublicized Toq.



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Samsung is apparently ruling the smartwatch space, leading the pack with a 71 per cent market share, according to a report by research firm Strategy Analytics.
Isn't that about the same market share as Apple had at one point with iPad?
A previous IDC report predicts that wearable shipments should triple this year, and could hit 112 million shipments by 2018. Will this surge be due to the many upcoming smartwatches such as the Moto 360 and LG G Watch, both running on Google's OS designed for wearable devices, Android Wear, set to join the market in the next few months? Certainly Samsung's wearables have enjoyed little serious retail competition so far from the aforementioned Sony and Pebble or Qualcomm's underpublicized Toq.
I hope to heck that these other manufacturers CAN substantially cut the market share of Samsung. Me personally, I've got one of the really early Sony watches and it's - at best - okay. The Moto 360 on the other hand is something that I'd mark as “desirable”.

Pebble and Toq I'd suggest haven't made much impact because they've got the usual blinders on - there's the US of A, and then there's that liddle bit o' land they call the rest of the world. Not really worth selling to that other bit.

Oh, and anyone trying to sell at £200 (or above) is going to get none of my money. For that kind of cash I want something decent with a Seiko badge on it! :p
Am I one of the few who couldnt care less about smart watches???
dfour
Am I one of the few who couldnt care less about smart watches???

We seem to be rather rare, and probably valuable to poachers.
dfour
Am I one of the few who couldnt care less about smart watches???
Nope, I only bought one because it was at a very attractive price - the kind that makes you think “well, not much lost if this turns out to be naff”.

Maybe it's just my podcast selection skewing things, but it seems like the American's are more interested in smart watches than us Brits. Same deal with Glass - from some of the US coverage you'd think it was the second coming.
Smartwatch market doubles in size

Oh…a second person is interested now?