Earlier this year detailed research from Strategy Analytics concluded that global smartwatch shipments “grew an impressive 56 percent annually to reach a record 18 million units in the fourth quarter of 2018”. Unspurpsingly, the Apple Watch maintained first position with 51 percent global smartwatch marketshare.
But that’s not really the news here. The news is that they estimated around 22.5 Million Apple Watches were sold in 2018. We know from the reports by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry that the Swiss themselves exported about 23.5 Million watches overall.
The kicker here is that based on Strategy Analytics thorough … analytics, Apple will sell more watches in 2019 than the entire Swiss Industry combined.
On the monthly reports we publish here, the impact of the smartwatches on the Swiss watch industry can be clearly seen. Anything in the price range of the smartwatches gets absolutely destroyed for quite some time now.
Nobody is somehow confirming any link here, but I do believe that is a bit of an Ostrich strategy as it is not a stretch to conclude that this is because they can not compete with the smartwatches.
By the close of this year, the headlines will read: “Apple outsells the entire Swiss watch industry”. And might I add: “How bout them apples?”