According to a report by Strategy Analytics, smartwatch sales during the fourth quarter of 2015 outperformed Swiss watch sales for the first time. The company claims that during that holiday period, a total of 8,1 million smartwatches were shipped to dealers for the 7,9 million Swiss watches in comparison.
Of those 8,1 million shipments regarding smartwatch, Apple and Samsung were the ones that topped the list. Apple accounted for 63 percent of the market with about 5,1 million units shipped, while Samsung took 16 percent of the market with only 1,3 million units.
These 8,1 million smartwatches shipped to distributors in the fourth quarter of 2015, translates into a 316 percent increase over 1,9 million of units sold in the same period in 2014. The great difference between the two years that have passed and the turning point for said difference is evident it is clearly the Apple Watch, This wearable was launched in April 2015, so in 2014 only devices compatible with Android Wear and companies like Pebble were the only manufacturers during that year.
At the end of 2014, shipments of Swiss watches stood at 8,3 million, which means that shipments have fallen by 5 percent to 7,9 million sent in the last quarter of 2015. The report also mentions that smartwatches made by Swiss companies, such as Tag Heuer, accounted for only 1 percent of the global, somewhat anecdotal.
Of course this does not mean that the analog watch market It is not going to disappear by any means, but it implies that the era of smartwatch is already the present and classic brands are going to have a tough competitor in this market niche.