A new report calculates that over 100 million people now use an Apple Watch. That’s one out of every 10 iPhone users, an excellent attach rate.
“More than 100 million people wear an Apple Watch,” Above Avalon’s Neil Cybart writes. “Based on my estimates, Apple surpassed the important adoption milestone this past December.”
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Cybart further estimated that 30 million of those 100 million users bought their first Apple Watch in 2020, thanks to the device’s focus on fitness and the late 2020 launch of the Fitness+ service.
That said, it took Apple 5.5 years to reach this milestone in part because the Apple Watch got off to a slow start. Apple had sold an estimated 10 million units in its first year, and just 8 million in year two. But the pace picked up from there, with total sales of 50 million units by 2018 and then 100 million this past year.
Apple Watch usage has also grown as a percentage of the iPhone user base. In 2015, just 3 percent of iPhone users owned an Apple Watch too. But that number grew to 6 percent in 2018 and then 10 percent by the end of 2020. Today, Apple Watch is the company’s fourth-largest product by installed base behind iPhone, iPad, and Mac. And Cybart predicts that Apple Watch usage could surpass that of the Mac by 2022.
Apple reported last month that its total installed base of iPhone users had surpassed one billion, so if one out of every 10 iPhone users also owns an Apple Watch, the 100 million figure certainly makes sense.
dftf
<p>According to Statista, in Q2 2015, Apple Watch had a 75.5% market-share; as-of Q1 2020 (the latest data offered) it stands at 55.5%. The lowest it's been during that time is 44.4%. (By-contrast, IDC say for Q3 2020, Apple Watch held a 33.1% marketshare).</p><p><br></p><p>Clearly it's doing well, given iOS device market-share is 27.5%, according to StatCounter, or 15.2%, according to IDC, for 2020. Though Apple users generally do spend-more, and buy into Apple's ecosystem, so it's not surprising to see.</p><p><br></p><p>Cheap Android devices exist for a reason: many people have less-money to spend, or simply prefer not to. Such users are also not likely-candidates for purchasing an Android-compatible Smartwatch!</p><p><br></p><p>And remember: the iPod only became a category-dominating product AFTER iTunes was ported to Windows, and syncing on that platform was possible. So, long-term, not having an Android app might cost them some potential sales… </p><p><br></p><p>[Note: all market-share stats presented are worldwide, not specific to any country]</p>
dftf
<blockquote><em><a href="#612942">In reply to SteenMachine:</a></em></blockquote><p>Just to add to my original comment: I'm not saying, of course, that were the Apple Watch to be able to sync with Android sales would suddenly take-off: the iPod was the right-device, at the right-time. Before it, most feature-phones had low-amounts of on-board storage, and very-few accepted microSD cards. So most people were either using cassette Walkmans, or CD-based Discmans — with an elite few buying into Minidisc.</p><p><br></p><p>In contrast, while the Apple Watch I'm sure can be helpful, it's mostly just another accessory item Apple fans can buy into, or viewed as a fashion-accessory.</p><p><br></p><p>Having an Android app would mean some more sales, but I doubt smartwatches as a category are ever going to become that mainstream…</p>
dftf
<blockquote><em><a href="#612942">In reply to SteenMachine:</a></em></blockquote><p><em>"But back in 2003, the Mac market share in US was in the 2% range"</em></p><p><br></p><p>I've no-idea what it would be now: of laptops and desktops, I typically see stats saying around 85-90% run Windows. But of that remaining 10-15%, how many are macOS, and how-many Linux… and I'd imagine that Chromebooks would also fall into this category too?</p><p><br></p><p>Be interesting to see if the new M1-era generates any more market-share for macOS, especially through being able to run iOS apps natively on them… (no-news yet on whether Microsoft will ever consider adding Android app support to Windows)</p>