After years of waiting, Google finally launched the Pixel Watch late last year alongside its latest generation of smartphones, and with the new number, the smartwatch appears to be a huge hit for the company with hundreds of thousands of units shipped in its first few. Months.
canalis Reports indicate that Google shipped 880,000 Pixel Watch units in the fourth quarter of 2022, the first three months that the smartwatch was available for sale. That was enough to help Google retain the number two spot in the smartwatch market with 8% of total shipment volume. That’s behind Apple’s lead of about 28%, and well above Samsung’s share of 5.9%.
Of course, the vast majority of Google’s wearable shipments aren’t actually the Pixel Watch. Instead, it includes Fitbit devices, which make up the bulk of the four million units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2022.
By comparison, Apple shipped nearly 14 million smartwatches in the same time period, while Samsung, Xiaomi, and Huawei hovered around three million. Shipments of wearables as a whole have fallen over the past year, with the market shrinking 18% year-over-year. Google saw a 25% drop, which is actually better than the 35% drop Samsung saw. Unsurprisingly, Apple held up by 17%. canalis It’s also noted that the Pixel Watch has managed to boost Google’s performance smart watch by 16%.
There is one piece of evidence against that claim though, as Google’s Pixel Watch app, which is required to use the watch, recently passed 500,000 installs. But with the difference in shipments versus actual units sold, it still seems well within the scope of possibility.
It comes as Google continues to reduce focus on its Fitbit Versa and Sense smartwatches. The launch of those fitness-focused wearables last year saw the removal of many smartwatch features like third-party apps, and that’s something Google has only doubled down on.
Related: Fitbit Sense 2 & Versa 4 review: In the shadow of the Pixel watch
Recently, Google also announced the shutdown of some long-available Fitbit features, while the fitness app also experienced several major outages during the month of February. Meanwhile, Google has continued to build on the Pixel Watch, adding support for Fall Detection among other improvements.
Of course, Google still has a long way to go with the Pixel Watch to catch up to its main competitors. Samsung and Apple sell far more smartwatches than Google and Fitbit combined, but for a first-generation product that had high expectations, the Pixel Watch seems to be doing quite well.
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