Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Smartwatches still aren’t a thing and the market is already dropping

With little new for Apple Watch or others, the market dropped by nearly a third last quarter.

The Apple Watch will also have — you guessed it — heart-rate monitoring.
The Apple Watch will also have — you guessed it — heart-rate monitoring.
The Apple Watch will also have — you guessed it — heart-rate monitoring.

With little new in the market and an update to the Apple Watch still months away, the smartwatch market dropped by nearly a third last quarter, according to IDC.

That’s a big deal considering the market is still in its infancy and the devices are far from ubiquitous. Sales dropped to 3.5 million last quarter, down from 5.1 million a year ago.

Apple still accounted for the lion’s share of the market at 1.6 million watches, but that was down from sales of 3.6 million a year earlier. Samsung, LG, Lenovo and Garmin rounded out the top five sellers.

“Consumers have held off on smartwatch purchases since early 2016 in anticipation of a hardware refresh, and improvements in WatchOS are not expected until later this year, effectively stalling existing Apple Watch sales,” IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani said in a statement.

IDC

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh