Apple led market growth in the earwear and smartwatch categories in the META regions comprised of the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa in Q3 2021, defying supply chain constraints. The company was followed by Samsung that held the second spot in terms of shipments.

The data comes from International Data Corporation (IDC) that further reported that in META, the wearables market saw a year-on-year growth rate of 2.0% in units and 25.4% in value in the third quarter of this year. A total of 3.09 million earwear, watches, wristbands, and glasses worth $504.6 million were sold across the region during the same timeframe.

The impressive figures come in at a time where the market is still struggling against the global semiconductor shortage. That’s not to say that the shortages didn’t have an effect though, as dwindling supply did lead to price increments levied by many vendors.

“Consumers tend to spend more of their disposal income on more compatible devices connected to their cellphones,” says Zeynep Kilic, a research manager at IDC. “The pandemic and lockdowns raised the demand for wearables for their health and fitness capabilities, and this is what spurred some vendors to invest in this field, such as Apple with its Fitness+ apps.”

Among all of the wearable shipments, TWS and over-ear audio devices grabbed the largest share of shipments in Q3 2021, accounting for 45.9% of all wearable devices shipped to the region. The YoY shipments increased of the category increased 34.4% in terms of units and 22.6% in value during the quarter. Apple led the sales with a third of the total market units, trailed by Samsung followed by Xiaomi. The work-from-home trend led to increased demand for wearables with support for ANC.

Earwear sales were followed by smartwatches that oversaw significant annual growth of 40.9% in units and 45.7% in value in Q3 2021. Apple again dominated the market mostly thanks to the new Series 7 lineup. Samsung took 2nd place with its Galaxy Watch 4 selling like hotcakes. Garmin ranked third.

The basic watch and fitness band category also saw strong year-on-year growth in Q3 2021, with shipments increasing 54.8% in unit terms and 44.2% in value. Such gadgets have grown to be a great budget alternative to their pricier smartwatch counterparts, and have lately begun offering more advanced features like SpO2 tracking. Huawei led this category, followed by Amazfit in second and Xiaomi in third.

RELATED:

• TSMC top 10 customers revealed: Apple accounts for quarter of total revenue
• Apple iPhone 13 and older models suffer from a WhatsApp crashing bug
• Apple Watch fall detection feature credited to saving an Ottawa senior resident after fall
• Apple iPhone 13 has a better buyback value than the Pixel 6: Report
• iPhone SE 2022 could reel in over a billion Android users to the Apple ecosystem

The post Apple leads Middle East, Turkey, and Africa smartwatch market to impressive YoY growth of 46.7% appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Apple iPhone 12 mini sales in the US, the company’s largest market, accounted for just 5 percent of all new sales during the first half of last month. This is likely due to the declining demand for smaller smartphones in the market.

According to a Reuters report, market research from known analytics based firm, Counterpoint Research, found that the demand for the new small flagship has been low. In recent times, handsets with larger displays have become increasingly more popular due to the amount of multimedia entertainment consumed on smartphones (like videos, movies, and other streaming services) growing, especially through major social media platforms.

Earlier this week, we had also reported on the Apple iPhone 12 mini being discontinued soon due to sales being lower than what was initially expected by the Cupertino based giant. Notably, the brand also lowered the production capacity of iPhone 12 mini units and shifted the capacity towards the more popular iPhone 12 Pro model. For those unaware, the company had initially expected the mini being one of the more popular devices in the new series, although, its larger higher end siblings have been performing better in the market.

Counterpoint analyst Tom Kang added that “This is in line with what we’re seeing in the broader global market, where screens under 6 inches now account for around 10 percent share of all smartphones sold.” Apple has yet to comment and clarify on this matter. So stay tuned for more, as we will be providing updates when additional information is available.

RELATED:

• Apple warned to ‘play fair’ by EU antitrust chief, ahead of its new ad tracking feature
• Apple to discontinue the iPhone 12 mini in Q2 2021: Report
• Apple dominates tablet market with 53.2 million shipments in 2020

The post Apple iPhone 12 mini sales decline due to low appeal for small devices: Report appeared first on Gizmochina.

Wall Street analysts are expecting Apple to reach sales crossing 100 billion US Dollars for the final quarter of 2020. This marks the holiday season along with the company’s launch of its latest iPhone 12 series lineup.

According to a BusinessInsider report, the current estimation for the Cupertino based giant’s final quarter sales is 102.76 billion US Dollars. This is for the quarter that ends on 31st December 2020, which is also the company’s fiscal first quarter, as per estimates from 27 analysts. At the moment, the highest estimate as per these analysts has the company reach 110.21 billion US Dollars in sale during the fourth quarter of last year.

As per Morgan Stanley analysts Katy L. Huberty and Erik W. Woodring’s research note, “We are buyers ahead of what we expect to be a record December quarter print.” If the mean estimation of the 102.76 billion US Dollars sales for Apple is true, it would mark a year on year rise of 16 percent over its final quarter sales from back in 2019. The company is scheduled to post the results of this quarter on Wednesday (27th January 2021) after the market closes.

Similar to Apple, even Amazon is expected to top the 100 billion US Dollars sales mark during this period. Although, its financial report for this quarter would only be seen by 2nd February 2021. Both Apple and Amazon would be a part of a small group of American firms that also includes Walmart, which also hit the 100 billion US Dollar milestone as well. Morningstar analysts also added that “CEO Tim Cook expects iPhone revenue to grow in the December quarter despite the new iPhone 12 being launched a couple of weeks later in the quarter, though he did not specify the magnitude of growth. Meanwhile, all other products and services are expected to grow in the double digits.”

RELATED:

• Apple working on an AR Headset, but faces hurdles in its development: Report
• Apple shifts some production from iPhone 12 mini to iPhone 12 Pro to meet high demand: Report
• Apple iPhone 13 may sport in display fingerprint scanner, company working on a foldable iPhone

The post Apple to cross $100 billion in sales in Q4 2020: Report appeared first on Gizmochina.

Apple’s smartphone market share in China witnessed steepest decline this year. Apple CEO Tim Cook blamed the weak Chinese economy behind sluggish iPhone sales. Whereas, he missed on some other reasons including the intense competition from domestic brands, longer replacement cycles, and some strategy failures. A new report today unfurls another major reason behind Apple’s decline in China.

According to an iPhone user in China, Apple lacks country-specific content for services like iTunes. He only used App Store, and relied on popular Chinese apps – WeChat for messaging and payments, IQ for video streaming and listens to Music on NetEast Cloud Music. He is still using iPhone 7 because he feels new iPhone models are too expensive in comparison with the features they offer.

These are the significant problems faced by every Chinese user. The user prefers a device which can offer localized content with ease. Apple needs to reinvent the whole strategy to conquer markets like China.

Rather than being the “iPhone company”, Apple is now shifting focus on services for lucrative profits. It has become a vital part of Apple’s revenue generation. A refocused approach is today’s need to lure Chinese customers back into the fold. It will not be an easy task for Apple to make services a major revenue stream. Whereas, Ryan Reith, Vice President of IDC “don’t see them ever getting the service advantage that they see certainly in Western markets, ever in China.”

The company needs to invest a lot more time, effort and capital to conquer China’s market. As like of the hardware business, they need to tackle the increasing competition from local services like Wechat, IQ, etc. Ryan Reith said: “The one market in the world where Apple doesn’t have its full ecosystem advantage is China, and that’s because WeChat has basically been able to encompass everything from pay to games to communication to all these different things. It makes the ecosystem advantage that they have in basically every other market… extremely lower on the value chain.”

It’s entirely difficult for the Cupertino giant’s service business to excel in China. The companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook have already failed in the country.

According to a recent IDC report, Apple sales significantly dropped in China on a YoY basis. The company shipments reduced to 36.4 million units in Q1 2019 from 52.2 million units in Q1 2019, a change of over -30.2%.

• Read More: Apple sales significantly dropped amid weakened global smartphone shipments

The Chinese hardware manufacturers like Huawei, Xiaomi and others are already squeezing Apple’s growth. Whereas, its services are also not as par with the expectations of the Chinese users. Various government regulations are increasing Apple’s difficulties to operate at full potential.

However, Apple needs to tailor its services to succeed in the Chinese market.

(source)

The post Not just sluggish iPhone sales behind Apple’s decline in China appeared first on Gizmochina.

As the 11.11 Singles’s Day sale is over, now its time for companies to calculate the profits out of total sales. Well, as from initial findings it has been made clear that Apple iPhone was mostly sold at Singles’ Day sale. As according to the report, Alibaba has made sales worth $31 billion in a single day, most of the sales were led by Chinese firms like Huawei, Xiaomi, and others. Though, as per the new in-depth report, it is found that Apple led most of the sales in the smartphones category this year.

Actual number and facts are not present but it is confirmed that Apple’s iPhones were among the top smartphones which gathered a huge number of sales. Apple’s competitor, Samsung stood on 8th place in the number of sales, while Huawei managed to stand 2nd which is followed by Xiaomi at 3rd spot. Interestingly, Xiaomi gained $575 million sales in a single day, roughly converting to 3 billion yuan.

Unlike Apple, Xiaomi managed to rake up sales in the budget smartphone category. Even Xiaomi’s home products catered to its historical sales at this year’s Singles day event.

On the other hand, Samsung is struggling to find some good place in the Chinese market. The Korean giant is meddling with a continuous decline in China. Recently, a new report spilled some beans on the 1% market share of Samsung in China. It has considerably dipped from top most selling smartphone maker to the bottom. We think it has happened due to the competitive domestic players which are offering similar devices at much fewer prices.

• Read More: Apple introduces iPhone X display repair program for faulty units

It is a good news for Apple, as the Cupertino giant was seen struggling in making profits in Q3, 2018 around the Globe. We hope this would gradually help Apple to maintain good profit records.

Well, did you managed to buy a new Apple iPhone at Singles Day sale?

(Via, Source)

The post Apple iPhone remains best selling smartphone at Singles Day sale in China appeared first on Gizmochina.