Counterpoint releases one infographic each quarter to summarize the smartwatch market activities in a single quick view. Apple was the resounding leader in Q4 2021 with the strength of their new Apple Watch Series 7.
The three dominating markets in the quarter were North America (30%), China (24%) and Europe (19%) making up 73% of the smartwatch market. The global smartwatch market reached 127.5M units in 2021, with shipments of 42.4M in the fourth quarter translating to 23.8% growth year-over-year.
Smartwatch Market Share By OS, 2021
- Smartwatch operating systems: proprietary OS or RTOS still dominates. These lack the ability to install third-party apps.
- With the popularity of the Apple Watch, Watch OS holds almost a third of the market.
- The biggest change in 2021 in terms of smartwatch OS is Samsung’s move from Tizen to Wear OS. As a result, Google’s Wear OS has increased its share from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2021.
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Smartwatch Market Share By Brand, 2021 vs 2020
- The global smartwatch market reached 127.5M units in 2021, with shipments of 42.4M in the fourth quarter.
- Apple’s Watch 7 series launch had been delayed to the fourth quarter but remained the hands-down leader. Samsung slightly boosted their market position in 2021 with the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4 series.
- Similar to its decline in the smartphone market, Huawei showed weaker performance in the smartwatch market compared to 2020. But it still ranked 3rd in the global market.
Smartwatch Market Proportion By Region, 2021
- The smartwatch market still has room to grow and shipments are yet centered around advanced markets such as North America and Europe.
- China is the largest market for kids’ smartwatches, and this has helped it rank second in regional markets just behind North America in 2021.
The Winning Apple Watch Series 7
During Apple’s Financial Conference Call held in late January, CFO Luc Maestri commented on the Apple Watch by noting that “In addition to an outstanding level of sales performance globally, Apple Watch continues to extend its reach with over two thirds of customers purchasing an Apple watch during the quarter were new to the product.”
