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Canalys: Apple has shipped nearly 7 million Watches so far

Apple Watch Tweetbot 16-9

A new report from analytics firm Canalys claims that Apple has shipped nearly 7 million Apple Watches since the device debuted earlier this year. That number puts Apple’s shipments ahead of every other smart watch maker on the market combined.

No other vendor even managed to ship 300,000 units, according to the report, with the Pebble shipping over 200,000 thanks to the boost from the recently released Pebble Time Steel. Korean competitor Samsung saw a drop in its own shipments.

One point to bear in mind when looking at shipment numbers, however, is that they may not be indicative of actual sales. Instead, the number of shipments tracks how many units were sent to vendors for sale, not directly to customers.

Apple has been reluctant to provide exact numbers on Watch sales, choosing instead to lump them in with several other product categories. Analysts have previously tried to pin down the exact number without much luck. Some estimates range from 3 million to 6 million.

Best Buy claims to be seeing high demand for the wearable, while some suppliers are said to not even be shipping 2 million units a quarter. Gene Munster, however, believes the number is somewhere around 3 million.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted that sales are above 3 million, but declined to give a specific number. Shopping analysis has suggested that many of these purchases were made right at the beginning of the Apple Watch’s availability, with sales tapering off after that.

It’s unlikely that we’ll get a real sales number any time soon, but if Canalys’ numbers are anywhere near accurate, Apple has done well for itself in relation to the rest of the smart watch market.

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Comments

  1. rogifan - 8 years ago

    Who knows if these numbers are even close to being accurate but I do have to chuckle a bit considering how many claiming Android Wear watches are so much better because they’re round. If this report is right that’s not translating into sales. Probably because those who care about having a nice looking mechanical-esque watch on their wrist just buy the real thing, not an imitation smartwatch.

    • RP - 8 years ago

      When it comes to round or square, I believe the form has to follow function. I think square is best for computers but if anyone can make round work, then cool. I find it interesting that I have been hearing a similar argument about the front grill on the Tesla Model S. That since it’s electric and doesn’t need a grill, that it was silly to have a traditional looking faux one on it. And many have given kudos to the Tesla Model X which went without the faux grill.

      New products come with new design language, it’s harder for some than others to accept new things. The first cars came with the horse buggy design language because that’s what the current design language was.

    • jowens1259 - 8 years ago

      So it sells the most it must be the best. I like the way you think. So apparently we also need to stop on the way back and pick up Android phone, and Windows PC, and a McDonald’s burger . They sell the most so according to you they must be the best.

      • rnc - 8 years ago

        Android sells very poorly on iPhone’s price point.

    • Smigit - 8 years ago

      I think the circle displays look nice, but my issue is that for the same width and height at the extremities, the circle display effectively loses about a third of the screen area that a rectangular face has due to you essentially cropping the corners of a square display to bring it down to a circle. It may look nice, but for a small size display losing a considerable amount of screen real estate seems limiting to me.

      Also while a circle is a nice form factor for replicating an analogue watch face, it doesn’t present a good surface for displaying say an SMS message spanning 2 or 3 lines.

  2. macnificentseven48 - 8 years ago

    Sales definitely fell short of projected 30 million set by some analysts. Now everyone can say AppleWatch is a monumental failure even though Apple sold more than all other smartwatch manufacturers combined over the past couple of years.

    • twelve01 - 8 years ago

      I don’t think that is the typical analyst perspective at all. Yes, some analysts predicted higher initial sales – though most have brought expectations down since. Most would agree that 7 million is a strong number, especially relative to android offerings. Also, the holiday quarter should give a nice boost. Personally I see more every day. I suspect sales are steady or on the rise.