SMARTWATCH sales are facing a huge blow in yearly sale figures, says a new report from analysts IDC.

It highlights how the overall sales of each company combined are plummeting by 51.6%.

Apple is in the lead with their Apple Watch, but compared to 2015 were they sold 3.9 million units in the third quarter, this year they shipped only 1.1 million in the same amount of time.

Top Five Smartwatch Vendors, Shipments, Market Share and Year-Over-Year Growth, 3Q 2016 (Units in Millions)
Vendor 3Q16 Unit Shipments 3Q16 Market Share 3Q15 Unit Shipments 3Q15 Market Share Year-Over-Year Growth
1. Apple 1.1 41.3% 3.9 70.2% -71.6%
2. Garmin 0.6 20.5% 0.1 2.3% 324.2%
3. Samsung 0.4 14.4% 0.4 6.4% 9.0%
4. Lenovo 0.1 3.4% 0.3 6.2% -73.3%
5. Pebble 0.1 3.2% 0.2 3.3% -54.1%
Others 0.5 17.2% 0.6 11.5% -27.2%
Total 2.7 100.0% 5.6 100.0% -51.6%
CREDIT: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, October 24, 2016

Samsung, Lenovo and Pebble also suffered serious losses, but Garmin has the only product which has an increase in sales.

Andy Riley, a previous smartwatch user, believes this loss doesn’t come as a surprise. He said: “It’s no shock at all. If something works why change it. If you want to monitor fitness there’s better ways to do it than a smart watch.

“I have two expensive wrist watches that tell the time and they’re much better that a piece of black plastic that talks to my phone.”

watches
Microsoft Band and Applewatch. Credit: movie tv tech geeks

He also thinks they’re overpriced and their use is limited. He added: “I had two, the Microsoft Band and Band 2. I sold them both because U didn’t see the point in telling him if he was sleeping or not.

“They were an expensive frippery that I had no use for. You should spend money on a proper watch and let your phone monitor everything else.”

This report came in a time before new versions were released, but the report still suggests a decline in consumer appeal.

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