Apple is alleged to have seen a major decline within the demand for its smartwatches in most areas. As per a market analysis agency, 2024 was the second consecutive yr the place Apple Watch shipments declined by a placing margin. One of the vital notable areas the place shipments fell is North America, the Cupertino-based tech large’s house turf. That is attributed to the dearth of recent fashions, in addition to minimal upgrades made to the prevailing lineup within the final yr.

Decline in Apple Watch Shipments

According to Counterpoint Analysis’s World Smartwatch Cargo Tracker for the fourth quarter (This autumn) 2024, Apple Watch shipments declined by 19 % year-on-year (YoY). It marked the second consecutive yr and fifth consecutive quarter of decline for the iPhone maker, while its opponents, particularly Chinese language OEMs, carried out strongly within the international smartwatch market.

Picture Credit score: Counterpoint Analysis

A good portion of the decline is because of the firm shedding floor in North America, which is alleged to contribute to greater than half of its complete shipments in a yr. Apple’s market share lowered by 8 proportion factors YoY in 2024, as per the evaluation agency.

The general decline is attributed to a number of elements, with considered one of them being minimal upgrades made to the Apple Watch Series 10 which debuted final yr. Additional, the corporate didn’t launch the Apple Watch SE (third Technology) and Apple Watch Extremely 3 fashions. As per the report, the previous is an inexpensive possibility which constitutes most of its shipments within the post-launch interval. In the meantime, the latter is Apple’s most premium smartwatch providing which holds over 10 % of its complete smartwatch cargo share.

Apple has additionally been dodging authorized hurdles within the final two years, largely resulting from a patent dispute between Apple and Masimo, a medical expertise firm that claimed that Apple Watch’s blood oxygen sensor expertise infringed a number of of their patents. This pressured the corporate into initially halting its smartwatch gross sales within the US, following which it disabled the heart beat oximetry characteristic for measuring blood oxygen (SpO2).

Notably, these elements contributed to the Cupertino-based tech large witnessing a YoY cargo decline for the primary time in 1 / 4 when it additionally launched a brand new smartwatch sequence.