Reports from South Korea suggest Samsung has sold 600,000 wearable units in the third quarter, but that sales figure pales in comparison to the 4.5 million reported Apple Watch sales during the same three-month period.
Strategy Analytics noted 6.1 million wearable sales during the July-September period. Apple took the lion’s share with 72.8 percent, while Samsung slumped into second with 9.8 percent. Huawei and Lenovo (and Motorola) apparently account for the one million other wearable sales, though we suspect LG and Pebble take a good chunk of those remaining sales as well.
Analysts point to Apple’s ability to rush out of the gate with a new product, while Samsung takes time to win over customers. Samsung’s most recent wearable is also only available in South Korea, with plans to launch the Gear S2 in the U.S. and Europe later this year.
Once the Gear S2 becomes available worldwide, analysts expect Samsung to start seeing improved wearable sales. The original Galaxy Gear managed to hit one million in sales, and the Gear S2 is a much more well-rounded device, highly recommended by most reviewers (including ours here at Digital Trends). Samsung, however, may need to up its advertising game to compete with Apple, which is currently running a slew of Apple Watch adverts worldwide.
The Gear S2 is already showing strong signs in South Korea, alongside the company’s payments service, Samsung Pay, that reached one million users in under two months. Samsung is adding transport and loyalty cards to Samsung Pay in the next update, both available to use on the Gear S2.
Android Wear is a non-factor in the discussion over wearables, with the Apple Watch and Gear S2 both running other platforms. The wearables market may turn into a clone of the mobile market, but instead of Samsung running Android, it runs Tizen. Google still has Motorola and LG working on new wearables, but the lack of advertising for these products makes it hard for them to compete against those of Samsung and Apple.
