The Apple Watch has sold what many believe to be as much as 12 million copies to iPhone owners worldwide since its inception, but a new report out shows that customers may be falling out of love with the Apple Watch -- if only temporarily.
The latest report from Strategy Analytics shows that Apple had a 63% smartwatch market share in Q4 2015 but that demand declined nearly 11% in Q1 2016. Of course, it could be said that Apple has yet to release a new smartwatch and, with the one-year market arrival anniversary on the way in March, early Apple Watch adopters are eager to see what's coming next (early adoption devices aren't perfect; even the least tech-savvy among us are aware of this fact).
Apple rival Samsung also saw demand for the Gear S2 decline in Q1 2016, but its decline was much less than that of Apple (1.7% decline for the Gear S2 as opposed to nearly 11% for the Apple Watch), leading analysts to believe that the Korean giant is holding its own in the smartwatch market. The biggest surprise of all, however, has to be the "others" lumped together in the Strategy Analytics report: demand for alternative smartwatches (whatever the "others" represents in detail we do not know) rose 12% in Q1 2016 from 21% in Q4 2015 to 33% in Q1 2016. In other words, a significant number of consumers are looking at brands like Android Wear to find their perfect smartwatch. Android Wear may actually be headed somewhere after all.
Overall, the Apple-Samsung duopoly holds firm, and these two rival companies continue to stand head and shoulders above the crowd. Whatever it is that's keeping Apple and Samsung at the top, other OEMs need to emulate it.
