New research has revealed that global sales of smartwatches have fallen for the first time.
Sales of smartwatches have fallen for the first time.
That is according to the market research firm Counterpoint, which found that seven percent fewer smartwatches were shipped in 2024 compared to the year before.
Anshika Jain, a senior research analyst at Counterpoint, said: “The biggest driver of the decline was North America, where the absence of the [Apple] Ultra 3 and minimal feature upgrades in the S10 lineup led consumers to hold back purchases.”
Apple has seen its overall share of the market fall from 25 percent in 2023 to 22 percent in the final three months of 2024.
Leo Gebbie, the principal analyst at CCS Insight, a London-based research firm, believes the new figures also reflect the public’s changing perception of smartwatch technology.
The expert told the BBC: “We’ve been through a period where the smartwatch has gone from being a new and exciting gadget, to something now that’s stabilising – the feature set isn’t changing very dramatically year over year.”
What’s more, Gebbie observed that a “bubble” in cheap, Indian-made devices has now burst.
He said: “We read and saw a lot in terms of complaints about the quality of devices, with people being unhappy with them.
“For those companies, there’s been a sense that from this point onwards they would be better served by maybe making and selling products with a slightly longer lifespan.”
Despite this, Counterpoint believes some ground will be reclaimed later in the year, with the company forecasting “single-digit percentage growth in 2025”.
Smartwatch sales fall for the first time
