According to Juniper Research, the Apple Watch took more than half of the global smartwatch market last year. Despite only launching in late April, the device had a 52% market share at the end of the year. By comparison, Android Wear shipments were responsible for less than 10% of sales.
Despite being well-received, Samsung’s Tizen-based Gear S2 has not achieved strong sales (although it was only launched in November). Most other smartwatch sales are currently coming from simpler and lower-cost devices, such as the Martian X and new Nabu Watch from Razer.
A whitepaper by Juniper (http://tinyurl.com/z4zvx7n) shows that the lack of a strong use case has led to the smartwatch market being driven by lower-priced, basic devices. Although there is now a large range of smartwatches, there have been no great strides made in innovation. Most changes are now occurring in design and subtly different functionality, rather than capabilities.
