Apple Watch sales increase overall for 2022, but drop 18% in the fourth quarter

Canalys has released its latest estimates on the wearable band market, revealing a challenging fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022 with an 18% shipment decline to reach 50 million units. 

The research group says this marks the first double-digit decline for the market in a typically seasonally strong Q4 quarter. The smartwatch category suffered a similar fate with a double-digit decline of 17%. Basic bands experienced their ninth consecutive decline with a 43% drop, while basic watches grew only 3%, with the growth engine India slowing significantly. 

Vendors across the board felt the impact of the challenging macroeconomic environment in Q4. Apple, the leader of the smartwatch category and the overall wearable band market, declined 17% on top of a tough comparison to its stronger quarter in 2021 as it returned to its regular launch schedule. 

Still, Apple saw its smartwatch sales grow 5% overall in 2022. It sold 41.4 million Apple Watches for 22.6% market share. This compared to overall 2021 sales of 39.4 million and 20.4% market share. 

Despite falling 25% due to waning Fitbit shipments, Google rose to second place as it was able to soften its decline with 16% smartwatch growth with the release of its Pixel Watch. Xiaomi, Huawei and Samsung all experienced big declines. 

Samsung even fell to fifth place as its growth streak abruptly ended in Q4 with a 35% decline as the dividend from the WearOS migration dwindled, and it was further limited by the iterative update of the Galaxy Watch 5 series. Despite declines in quarterly smartwatch shipments, Apple, Samsung and Huawei maintained annual growth, contributing to the smartwatches’ mild growth in 2022.

In 2022 overall, smartwatches grew 3%, basic watches rose 21%, and basic bands fell 39%, leading to the whole wearable band market declining by 5%.