Last week Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple has Extended their Crushing Lead in Global Wearables Market in Q3 2020." Today a new wearables report was published that zero's in on smartwatches with Apple Watch continuing to reign as king.

Today Counterpoint posted a report that started off by noting that global smartwatch shipments increased 6% in Q3 2020 compared to the same period last year.  

Apple remained the market leader, increasing its share by 2 percentage points compared to the previous year. It launched its first mid-tier smartwatch, the Apple Watch SE, during the quarter. Priced at less than $300, it received a lot of attention from the market.

Senior Analyst Sujeong Lim: "In terms of sales, Apple’s position is even stronger. In the third quarter, it achieved $2.3 billion, nearly half of global smartwatch shipments and an 18% increase over the same period last year.

By region, China managed to surpass North America in shipments after seven quarters to become the market leader. The North American market, which showed a significant growth with the release of the Apple Watch Series 4, had continued to dominate since Q4 2018, but China managed to edge ahead in Q3 2020. China, where the share of children smartwatches exceeded 70% in the past, is now witnessing a growth momentum in the ‘normal’ smartwatch category.

Huawei also managed to maintain its second position with a 15% share, thanks to the good performance of its newly launched models, especially the ones for children.

Lastly, with the successful launch of the Galaxy Watch 3, Samsung took the third position, overtaking BBK (Imoo brand) during the quarter.

A comprehensive report on smartwatch shipments by model and geography is available  Counterpoint's research portal for subscribing clients.