Apple's smartwatches have been affected by the global macroeconomic environment and fierce price competition in the market, leading to a decline in shipments. Yet this is short-term considering that Apple is to update their smartwatch line-up next Monday (Sept. 09). Apple's next-generation smartwatches will be highly anticipated and are expected to boost its temporarily declining market performance.

It's worth noting that Apple still ranks first in the global smartwatch market, which also represents its iconic market position in product development and sales performance.

To give Chinese vendors a boost, IDC created a compromised chart mixing cheap watch bands with smartphones. This of course allows the Chinese vendors to appear that they’re ahead of Apple which is false. Apple isn’t in the cheap watch band market like Xiaomi is which falsely gives them the edge over Apple as noted below.

(Click on Chart to Enlarge)

Why create a mixed report with Smart Watches and Smart Bands when Apple isn’t even in the Smart Band Market? It’s like mixing motorbikes with Tesla EVs. On the surface it would appear to be a nice custom tailored marketing ploy for Chinese vendors.