In the all-important Holiday Quarter, Apple Embarrassingly Outsold all of the Swiss Watch Makers Combined
For Q3 2019 Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Watch Market Share Grew in Q3, Delivering more than 3.5 Times Second Place Samsung." For calendar Q4 2019, Strategy Analytics decided to not bore us with a traditional Apple Watch massacre tale against typical smartwatch makers but rather reveal that Apple Watch outsold the entire Swiss Watch industry by a huge margin for the holiday season.
Strategy Analytics reports that "Apple Watch outsold the entire Swiss watch industry by a huge margin in 2019. Apple Watch shipped 31 million units worldwide in 2019, compared with 21 million for all Swiss watch brands combined. Swiss companies, like Swatch, are losing the smartwatch wars.
Steven Waltzer, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics: "We estimate Apple Watch shipped 30.7 million units worldwide in 2019, growing a healthy 36 percent from 22.5 million in 2018. A blend of attractive design, user-friendly tech and sticky apps makes the Apple Watch wildly popular in North America, Western Europe and Asia."
Waltzer added that "Traditional Swiss watch makers, like Swatch and Tissot, are losing the smartwatch wars. Apple Watch is delivering a better product through deeper retail channels and appealing to younger consumers who increasingly want digital wristwear. The window for Swiss watch brands to make an impact in smartwatches is closing. Time may be running out for Swatch, Tissot, TAG Heuer, and others."
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics: "We estimate the entire Swiss watch industry together shipped 21.1 million units worldwide in 2019, falling 13 percent from 24.2 million in 2018.
Analog wristwatches remain popular among older consumers, but younger buyers are tipping toward smartwatches and computerized wristwear." Source.
To be fair, Apple fans have always said that "volume" sales are useless because it's the profitability that matters – and Apple is the king of profits.
To be sure the Apple Watch is the most popular smartwatch and Apple makes a decent profit on them to be sure. But European high class watches are likely more profitable. Apple abandoned the very high-end of the watch market that ran over $10,000.
In Apple's case, they've threaded the needle like no other. They sold the most watches while continuing to sell their smartwatches at higher prices than most of their competitors, with the exception being the Swiss.
Apple's shift away from focusing on Luxury metals to health minded applications connected with the public and it is now the driving force behind the success of Apple Watch.
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