Apple Watch Sales Reach an All-Time High While Fitbit Falters

While Apple doesn’t release specific numbers, IDC estimates that 4.6 million devices were sold during the fourth quarter of 2016.

That’s good enough for 13.6 percent of the wearables market that also includes basic fitness trackers. In the same quarter in 2016, Apple sold an estimated 4.1 million watches. Here’s more from IDC about Apple’s 13 percent year-over-year growth.

Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2 proved to be a magnificent success for the company as it was the company’s best quarter ever in the wearables market. The lower entry price point and the inclusion of GPS on the Series 2 along with a completely revamped user interface have helped the company grow its presence. Apple is one of the few companies that has been able to quickly refocus its watch to gain traction in the consumer market and has also been leading the charge on introducing the smartwatch category to the commercial segment.

During the quarter, Apple took third place in the overall market behind No. 2 Xiaomi and leader Fitbit.

Even though Fitbit continues to lead the market, the company’s sales suffered a steep decline during the most recent quarter. Notching sales of 6.5 million units was a 22.7 percent drop from the same time in 2015 with sales of 8.4 million devices.

IDC noted that the company remains focused on the United States that is heavily saturated with fitness trackers. In other countries, Fitbit is challenged by lower cost competitors overseas.