Canalys estimates 4.2 million Apple Watches sold in June quarter

When Apple doesn’t release unit sales numbers or revenues for a new product line, research firms do the next best thing; they estimate how many devices the company sold. That’s what Canalys did in an estimate published yesterday suggesting that Apple shipped 4.2 million Apple Watches during the quarter ended June 27, 2015.

If the number is close, that means that the Apple Watch is the world’s best-selling wearable, jumping past sales of competing smartwatches and even less-expensive fitness trackers by companies like Fitbit. 

Canalys suggested that the numbers would have been higher if Apple had launched the Watch during the 2014 holiday season, and that low shipments in April and May really put a damper on the numbers. The Canalys estimates surpasses estimates made by many Wall Street analysts prior to yesterday’s earning call. Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um estimated that just 2 million units were sold, while the consensus of a group of analysts was much closer at 4 million units.

Tim Cook’s only comment about Watch sales during the results call was that it exceeded internal expectations and sold better in June than in April or May. CFO Luca Maestri added that the first nine weeks of Watch sales were greater than those for the original iPhone and iPad.