The worldwide smartwatch market saw a year-over-year decline of 32 percent in the second quarter, led by lower sales at Apple, according to IDC. It estimates smartwatch vendors shipped 3.5 million units in the second quarter, down substantially from the 5.1 million shipped a year ago.
Apple held the top rank by shipping 1.6 million watches, but was the only vendor to show a fall in sales, of 55 percent from a year earlier, when the Apple Watch was first launched. IDC expects consumers may be holding off on purchases ahead of a expected refresh of the WatchOS software later this year.
The figures show mobile phone makers are still dominating the smartwatch market, with no traditional watchmakers in the top-5 sellers. Apple had 47 percent of the market in Q2, followed by Samsung at 16 percent, Lenovo with 9 percent and LG at 8 percent. Garmin was number five, with 4 percent of total shipments.
