Samsung's strong Q2 cuts Apple's global lead in smartwatch shipments

During the second quarter of this year, Apple remained the leader in global deliveries of basic watches and smartwatches with a 26.4% share, well ahead of Samsung's 8.9% slice of the pie.  But Samsung made some real inroads hacking away at Apple's lead during the second quarter. According to Canalys, the Korean manufacturer saw its watch shipments soar by 58% year-over-year during the second quarter while Apple's shipments of the Apple Watch rose only 6%.

Apple shipped 8.4 million timepieces from April through June of this year compared to the 7.9 million it delivered during the same months last year. According to Canalys, Samsung shipped 2.8 million watches during Q2 2022, up from the 1.8 million it sent out in 2021. The strong growth registered by Samsung during the quarter not only reduced Apple's lead over the company from 24.1 percentage points to 17.5 percentage points, but it also allowed Samsung to leapfrog Huawei to take over second place.

Huawei was third with 2.6 million smartwatches shipped last quarter and despite scoring a 14% annual hike in shipments, the company's market share declined from 9% to 8.3% year-over-year. India's Noise was fourth as shipments soared 382% from 400,000 units sent during the second quarter of 2021 to 1.8 million units delivered in the second quarter of 2022. The company now has a 5.8% share of the global market compared to the 1.5% share it had last year.

Garmin was right behind after shipping 1.7 million watches from April through June this year. But that was off by 11% from the 1.9 million units it delivered during the 2021 second quarter. Garmin now owns 5.5% of the global market, off from the year earlier's 7.6%.

Altogether, 31.7 million watches were shipped worldwide during the second quarter of 2022, a healthy 25% hike from the 25.4 million shipped during the second quarter of 2021. Canalys Analyst Cynthia Chen says, "Within the Android space, Samsung is leading in leveraging its watches to enhance its premium ecosystem user experience. The latest releases from Samsung and Garmin and expected releases from Apple and Google in the coming months are intensifying competition among premium smartwatches."

Chen adds, "Smartwatch users are better informed about smartwatches and will choose the devices that offer the best tracking capabilities for their intended use cases, for general health tracking or sports performance tracking. The premium user experience extends from attractive designs and good build quality to intuitive software, seamless ecosystem integration and effective health tracking. While challenging, vendors must build experience and knowledge in developing software and tracking algorithms, combining them with a robust digital health strategy to win in the long term."

Apple Watch Series 8, 41mm, is available at Amazon

The Apple Watch Series 8 with a 41mm case and GPS is now available at Amazon. The wearable goes at its regular price.

Buy at Amazon

Apple Watch Series 8, 45mm is available on Amazon

The bigger Apple Watch Series 8 in Starlight is now available at its standard price. This is the larger-sized 45mm model.

Buy at Amazon

Apple Watch SE (2022), 40mm is available on Amazon

The Apple Watch SE (2022) is available at Amazon. The smartwatch currently retails at its standard price.

Buy at Amazon

Apple Watch SE (2022) 44mm: save 22% on Amazon

The bigger version of the Watch SE (2022) is also available to order at Amazon. Right now, the GPS wearable arrives at a 22% cheaper price. Don't miss out.

$60 off (22%)

Buy at Amazon

(Used) Apple Watch Ultra: get at Amazon

The rugged Apple Watch Ultra is available at Amazon. At the moment, no brand-new models are available, but you can get a used Watch Ultra at its standard price on Amazon.

Buy at Amazon

Apple yesterday introduced three new Apple Watch models, the Apple Watch Series 8, the second generation Apple Watch SE, and the rugged (and pricey) Apple Watch Ultra. Just last month, Samsung released the Galaxy Watch 5 and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. And on October 6th, the Google Pixel Watch finally becomes a reality as the device is expected to be introduced during the next Made By Google event.