14 DAY TRIAL // New information coming to us via Strategy Analytics shows us Samsung has managed to become the biggest smartwatch seller in Q1 2014.
Some of us still turn our noses away when it comes to smartwatches, but this wearable category is gaining force slowly but surely. And with the advent of new Android Wear models, we’re pretty sure smartwatches will turn the spotlight on them.
Nevertheless, this year has been dominated by Samsung’s launch of its new smartwatch couple, the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, at MWC 2014 in February back at Barcelona. The technology company also has the original Galaxy Gear smartwatch out on the market, which it unveiled a few short months prior to the Spain show.
Anyway, since the Korean tech giant hasn't really been challenged by any other products, offering similar functionalities, what we’re about to tell you should not come as a shock .
Namely, Sammy managed to come up on top of the smartwatch food chain, by grabbing a massive 71% of the global market in Q1 2014.
Of course, we’re talking about the first three months of the year and things might soon change as Motorola unleashes its wonderfully designed Moto 360 smartwatch and LG does the same too.
According to information provided by Strategy Analytics (via Yonhap News), Samsung ended up shipping 500,000 smartwatches units in the first quarter of the year, thus grabbing 71% share, which constitutes an important increase over the 52.4% of 2013.
As expected, the follow-ups were Sony and Pebble with around 11% each. The report goes on to mention Qualcomm only sold 10,000 units of its Toq watch, thus sharing only 1.4% of the market pie.
Since the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo models were globally made available in April, the trend is expected to persist and Samsung will continue to dominate the market.
Because Samsung didn't offer the two new smartwatches later this year, it could only mean the Korean tech giant managed to score 71% by virtue of selling the Galaxy Gear alone.
That’s a tad strange, as several past reports claimed the original Galaxy Gear proved to be a non-success. This was attributed to the limited compatibility of the smartwatch that included only Samsung devices and the lack of apps.
But it appears the truth is a little bit different. Samsung continues to have big plans when smartwatches are concerned and we have already reported on the possibility that we’re soon going to see a new model, dubbed the Gear Solo. This version of the Gear 2 should allow customers to place stand-alone phone calls right from their wrist.