Andy Walker / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Smartwatch gross sales in Q1 2023 took a dive when in comparison with Q1 2022.
- Analysts suspect an financial downturn is perhaps the perpetrator.
- The drop precipitated a reshuffle of the highest gamers, with Fireplace-Boltt now in second place globally.
In early 2022, there have been three main gamers within the international smartwatch market: Apple, Samsung, and HUAWEI. Apple was the apparent chief, with its Apple Watch line capturing a stable 32% of the market. Due to its line of Galaxy Watches, Samsung was attempting its greatest in second place with a ten% share.
Clearly, with HUAWEI’s place within the shopper market shattered, there was sure to be a reshuffling. Nonetheless, smartwatch gross sales took a fairly important dive year-over-year, in keeping with Counterpoint Analysis. This not solely resulted in HUAWEI dropping off into the “others” class, however it really noticed each Samsung and Apple dropping market share to a new-ish participant: Fireplace-Boltt.
Try the charts beneath to see how issues look if you examine Q1 2023 to Q1 2022:
Smartwatch gross sales: Who’s Fireplace-Boltt?
Should you don’t reside in India, you’ve in all probability by no means heard of Fireplace-Boltt. It’s the largest smartwatch model in India, in keeping with Counterpoint, and the fastest-growing smartwatch model globally. It presents a bunch of various kinds of smartwatches (that principally appear like the Apple Watch) at very affordable costs. It additionally presents a novel factors system that permits customers to earn “cash” that may then be redeemed for different merchandise and experiences.
It’s a real testomony to how properly Fireplace-Boltt understands its market that it was in a position to bounce out of the “others” class to usurp the mighty Samsung in only one 12 months. In actual fact, Counterpoint says Fireplace-Boltt is rising at an astounding charge of 57%.
If Fireplace-Boltt is rising so rapidly, why did Samsung and Apple lose market share? Smartwatch gross sales are down for these two because of financial downturns globally, no less than in keeping with Counterpoint. Apple’s important lack of 6% of its market share is sort of the blow to its standing. Hopefully, this 12 months’s new Apple Watch brings the warmth. Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 6 — and the rumored return of the “Basic” variant — will, hopefully, flip round its prospects as properly.
