Q3 global smartwatch shipments jumped 67 percent year-on-year, reaching 10 million units, said Strategy Analytics Friday. Apple Watch maintained the top position with 45 percent share, while Fitbit jumped into second, overtaking Samsung and Garmin. Apple shipped 4.5 million smartwatches worldwide in Q3, a 25 percent increase, but its share slipped from 60 percent on stiff competition from Fitbit and others, SA said. Fitbit had no smartwatch share in the year-earlier quarter, but shipped 1.5 million devices worldwide and captured 15 percent global share this Q3, the researcher said: “Fitbit is now the world’s second largest smartwatch brand. Its Versa portfolio is proving wildly popular across North America. Fitbit has further scope for growth next year by pushing deeper into Europe, Asia and Latin America.”
Durability to withstand “challenging environments” is the differentiating keystone of the Instinct, newly added to Garmin’s “adventure watch” lineup, said the company Thursday. The Instinct is built to “military standards” for thermal, shock and water resistance, said Garmin. The GPS watch, $299, has a built-in three-axis compass and barometric altimeter and support for “multiple global navigation satellite systems,” it said. It also has built-in sports apps, smart connectivity and wellness data, it said.
One in six U.S. broadband households owns a smartwatch, and two-thirds of owners use them daily, Parks Associates blogged Tuesday. The Net Promoter Score for the category is “trending upwards,” and Parks predicts “strong growth” for smartwatches by year end as they begin a transition from innovators and early adopters to the early majority. A Parks survey showed top features consumers considered when buying a smartwatch were long battery life, simple operation, water resistance, activity tracking, GPS and heart rate monitoring. Parks data shows strong growth for fitness trackers from 2014 to 2018. Both device categories are increasingly multifunctional and incorporate more sophisticated sensors and algorithms than earlier products, it said, noting that CE players are looking to expand their wellness and fitness products into new markets by partnering with payers, providers and employers.
The first Apple Watch was “revolutionary,” but the updates since were “mostly minor,” until the debut of the Series 4, said right-to-repair firm iFixit in a teardown analysis Monday. The Series 4's battery has 4 percent more capacity than the Series 3, despite having a case that’s 6 percent thinner, it said. The “taptic engine” inside the device “takes up a lot of room” that could have gone to a bigger battery, but Apple “seems to feel physical feedback is very important,” it said. Though the first-generation Apple Watch had internal components that seemed “awkwardly placed and unpolished by Apple standards,” with the Series 4, “they really painted the back of the fence,” it said.
Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Wear 3100 smartwatch platform Monday, announcing Fossil Group, Louis Vuitton and Montblanc as the first customers. The platform’s low-power system architecture enables a “rich interactive mode,” new personalized experiences and extended battery life,” Qualcomm said. Wear OS by Google-based smartwatches will support personalized experiences including enhanced ambient mode, supporting a smooth second hand, up to 16 colors, live complications and improved brightness, Qualcomm said. The new platform is designed to help reduce power usage in low power modes, GPS/location batching, per minute/second clock updates, sensors processing, MP3 playback, and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth voice queries, said Qualcomm, resulting in battery life improvements of four to 12 hours vs. the previous generation platform, depending on display type, battery capacity, and device configurations. Dedicated sports experiences will allow GPS and heart-rate tracking to last the duration of long-distance sports activities with up to 15 hours battery life, it said, and traditional watch mode supports week-long battery life for users who only want to use basic functions for an extended period. The platform is in mass production and shipping, Qualcomm said.
Fossil Group will offer more than 250 smartwatch styles from major fashion brands this holiday season, it said Tuesday at IFA, promoting its Wear OS by Google-powered touch-screen smartwatches launching in the fall through year-end. The 14-brand collection of hybrid and touch-screen smartwatches includes designs from Diesel, Emporio Armani, Fossil, Michael Kors and Skagen. New tech features of the Fossil Group lineup are heart-rate tracking, Google Pay via near-field communications, untethered GPS, one-hour fast charging, Google Assistant and water resistance to 98 feet, it said. A recent redesign of Wear OS by Google will provide quicker access to information and notifications, more proactive help from Google Assistant and "smarter health coaching" via Google Fit, Fossil said.
Futuresource Consulting sees global smartwatch shipments rising 43 percent this year to 33 million units, after a 47 percent increase in shipments in 2018's first half, it reported Thursday. Its long-term forecast is for shipments to double to 66 million units in 2022, it said. Consumers are “now more receptive” to the benefits of owning a smartwatch, and this is “driving first time purchases and upgrades from activity trackers, sport watches and other basic wearable technology,” said Futuresource. It forecasts a shift in buying patterns toward higher-end devices, it said. The “convergence” of fitness, communication and productivity features is driving smartwatch sales, but “independent LTE connectivity is expected to bring a new wave of smartwatch adoption, as consumers reap the benefits of standalone devices,” it said.
The share of females buying smartwatches is on the rise, growing to 42 percent in January from 35 percent in June 2016, blogged NPD. Income levels of smartphone users are skewing upward, with 42 percent of smartwatch owners earning more than $100,000 per year, from 26 percent two years ago, said analyst Weston Henderek. In June 2016, 36 percent of smartwatches were bought by consumers earning less than $45,000 per year, which Henderek attributed to a high proportion of buyers in the service industry -- waiters, bar staffers and retail workers -- “who need a device to check incoming notifications when they can't reach for their phone during a shift.” Smartwatches are reaching more mainstream status at 13 percent penetration of U.S. adults, a 4 percentage point increase from a year ago, he said. Use cases for smartwatches are growing, but the top applications are still sending and receiving notifications and health and fitness tracking because it’s easy for consumers "to see value in these applications,” said the analyst. Some 19 percent of smartwatch owners manage smart home devices with their device, said NPD data. The recent relaxing of Food and Drug Administration rules on fitness devices could be "a boon” for smartwatch makers, Henderek said, and built-in cellular capability, enabling a watch to be used independently of a phone, will help advance the market.
Fossil launched its fourth generation of smartwatches under the Fossil Q line, said the company Monday. The Fossil Q Venture HR and Explorist HR ($255-$275) are built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform, powered by Wear OS and include heart-rate tracking, near-field communications and untethered GPS. The watches are said to be “swimproof” and can charge in an hour to “last all day,” said the company.
Fitbit PH5 accessory bands for the Versa smartwatch, developed with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, are available at Target and Fitbit.com, said the tech company Monday. Two of the six $39 bands are available only at Target.