New Study Shows Apple Watch Claims Half of Global Smartwatch Shipments

The Apple Watch has claimed more than half of global smartwatch shipments, eclipsing rival Android devices, according to new data from Juniper Research.

The researcher estimates 17.1 million smartwatches shipped globally last year, with the Apple Watch accounting for 51.5 percent of shipments — or 8.8 million devices sold. That’s a number that’s well below some of analysts’ more ebullient projections for the device before it launched last April.

Competing Android Wear watches account for less than 10 percent of sales in 2015, according to Juniper.

Juniper Research

Juniper noted that the Apple smartwatch dominated over its rivals, in part, because of the number of apps available for the device: 10,000 Apple Watch apps versus around 4,000 apps for Android Wear devices as of last May. The lack of apps mean that devices such as Samsung’s Tizen-based Gear2 are attracting fewer users.

But smartwatches still suffer from a utility problem — as in, why do I need one? Thirty percent of the consumers surveyed by Juniper who said they had no immediate plans to buy a wearable said they didn’t think they’d use the device. The researcher noted that consumers need to be convinced they need a smartwatch. One of the major claimed benefits — that it frees people from their smartphones — is viewed with skepticism.

“Several users and reviewers note that this simply shifts the benefit of notification to another location, rather than lessening the load,” Juniper noted.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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