After years of waiting, Google finally launched the Pixel Watch alongside its latest generation of smartphones late last year, and thanks to the new number, the smartwatch appears to be a hit for the company, with hundreds of thousands of units shipped in the first couples to be months.
Canalys reports that Google shipped 880,000 Pixel Watch units in the fourth quarter of 2022, the first three months that the smartwatch went on sale. It was enough to give Google second place in the smartwatch market with 8% of the total shipment volume. That’s behind Apple’s commanding lead of almost 28% and well above Samsung’s share of 5.9%.
Of course, the vast majority of Google’s wearable supplies aren’t about the Pixel Watch. Rather, it includes Fitbit devices, which make up the bulk of the four million units shipped in Q4 2022.
For comparison: Apple shipped almost 14 million smartwatches in the same period, while Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei were around three million. Wearables shipments have declined overall over the past year, with the market shrinking 18% year over year. Google saw a 25% drop, which was actually better than the 35% drop Samsung saw. Unsurprisingly, Apple held out with a 17% decline. Canalys also notes that the Pixel Watch managed to add 16% to Google’s smartwatch growth.
There’s a bit of evidence against this claim, as Google’s Pixel Watch app, which is required to use the watch, only recently surpassed 500,000 installs. But with the difference between shipments and units actually sold, it still seems within the realm of possibility.
This comes as Google continues to de-emphasise the Fitbit, Versa and Sense smartwatches. Last year’s launch of these fitness-focused wearables removed 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
Just recently, Google also announced the shutdown of some long-standing Fitbit features, while the fitness app saw several major outages through February. Meanwhile, Google has continued to build out 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 with its big competitors. Samsung and Apple both sell far more smartwatches than Google and Fitbit combined, but for a first-gen product that had high expectations, the Pixel Watch seems to be doing quite well.
More on Pixel Watch:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Visit 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:
