Discussion - Apple retains clear smartwatch market lead, but a new contender is rising in a key wearable segment

I just recently switched to Apple and I was surprised how far behind Apple was compared to Samsung in the Smartwatch industry. There were a lot of very basic features I had for a decade. A lot having to do with the watch face and UI.

What Apple does have is pretty polished and optimized though.

Sounds like the Chinese OEMs are still lagging behind here, unsurprisingly.

I have been using cheap fitness trackers for a couple years now, and love them compared to the expensive smartwatches from Google/Samsung. Currently using an Amazfit Bip 6, and it's awesome. Shows me notifications. I can respond to them. Take calls from the watch (bluetooth only). Tracks steps, heart rate, O2, stress, sleep, etc. And it's less than $100. Basically does 80-90% of the features the expensive ones do, all while having 2 weeks of battery life.

It will be a while before I go back to a name brand watch.

i used a pixel watch to lose 85lbs and if apple watch cant do half as good then sales data is quite useless. just being logical

Chinese OEM's are in the top 5 globally for both lists, and Google is nowhere to be found in the top of either. Seems like Google is the one that's lagging here. Unsurprising.

It would be interesting to see how Apple's share of the smartwatch market would change, if there were more than one vendor that were to sell an iOS smartwatch.

Right now, Apple is the only company that sells iOS smartwatches while countless others sell android watches. 😉

In some way, it is the "cult" of Apple. Apple has a pretty good ecosystem that transfers and works well with other Apple devices. Their "walled garden" also helps keep the "cult of Apple" users trained to stay with them.

Not necessarily.

IMO, Samsung was doing horribly with the S23 Ultra updates I had before. Battery degradation was also the worst I ever had with super high excessive battery drain. It drains without any use at all. My Galaxy Active 2 glass / bottom unglued with people complaining about the same thing. My Galaxy Watch 6 classic has been extremely laggy after OS updates. I basically had to turn off all of the features. Same with my S23 Ultra. In addition to the super slow security updates, optimizations, and OS support.

I still have an iPhone 13 that I use for work and it's held up way better than my Samsung.

By far, Samsung has been the worst experiences. I have had OnePlus, Nexus Devices, Samsungs, Motorolas, etc. Idk what is up with Samsung right now.

I was never a fan of Apple, but I can do the basic things I need to do with them. What's the point of extra features if the phone lacks optimization and is full of battery drain bugs? I criticized Apple for the same thing in the past.

Android / Samsung have too much to manage and too big of a market share to care at this point. I think that's why Apple decided to improve too. Competition is always good.

Ditched my Samsung Watch in favour of a Garmin Venu4 - which admittedly is a more expensive product, but so far I can't see myself going back to Samsung. The battery life is a revelation, nearly 2 weeks on a charge. Still delivers my apps and notifications, and does everything the samsung did.

Amazfit is so good that I won't look at anything else unless it has some fancy hardware sensor.