Now don’t abandon the platform, Google
Prior to the highly anticipated Wear OS 3 relaunch, Google’s platform was not doing too well due to its poor user experience, performance issues, and sub-par battery life. Samsung’s Tizen OS was also going nowhere primarily due to the lack of third-party apps, despite a compelling smartwatch product range and feature set. Realizing their shortcomings, Google and Samsung teamed up to create and launch the all-new Wear OS 3 platform running on the Galaxy Watch4, and the strategy seems to be working. Counterpoint Research claims that Samsung achieved its highest quarterly smartwatch shipments in Q3 2021, all thanks to the Galaxy Watch 4 series.
The smartwatch shipments during the third quarter of 2021 were much higher than anticipated, with North America and Europe accounting for 60 percent of the total shipments. The two different variants of the Galaxy Watch4 — Basic and Classic — and a whole array of new software capabilities allowed the company to attract new customers. Thanks to this strong showing, Samsung recaptured the second spot in the smartwatch market from Huawei, moving much closer to leader Apple. The Korean manufacturer’s market share increased by 4 percent to 14 percent YoY in Q3 2021, though to keep up with this growth, it will need to launch more affordable smartwatches over the next few years.
Samsung’s gain was Huawei’s loss as its market share dwindled by 9 percent between Q3 2020 and Q3 2021, with Garmin and Amazfit also growing at its expense.
The Galaxy Watch4 success also translated into Wear OS rapidly gaining market share: from 4 percent in Q2 2021 to 17 percent in Q3 2021. Right now, Samsung is the only company offering Wear OS 3 smartwatches in the market. Once this exclusivity ends and Fossil and other brands launch Wear OS 3-running smartwatches at different price points, the OS’s market share should further increase — provided Google does not forget about the platform again and continues to invest in it.
While Apple continued to lead the market in Q3 2021, its share fell by 10 percent, likely due to the delayed launch of the Apple Watch Series 7. Nonetheless, the Apple Watch lineup continues to offer a far superior wearable experience than its competition, at least if you have an iPhone.
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