Samsung has outrun Fitbit in terms of wearable sales after the South Korean electronics giant posted a 12.8-percent market share in the first quarter of 2017, according to data from market research firm Strategy Analytics. On the other hand, Fitbit has been slightly edged out in the market with a 12.2-percent share. Samsung hence experienced a nearly double-digit growth in terms of market share since the third quarter of 2016, during which the company had a market share of approximately 7.5 percentage points, the firm said. Its share took a slide in the fourth quarter of last year, dropping to 6.6 percent and trailing behind market leaders Apple and Fitbit. The latest data from Strategy Analytics indicates Samsung is currently improvings its fortunes in the wearable segment having managed to come second in terms of device sales in the aforementioned period and being only behind Apple which retains its top spot with a 53-percent market share, according to the same source.
This is the first time that Samsung surpassed Fitbit in wearable sales after its market surpassed ten percentage points in the first quarter of this year. Strategy Analytics attributes Samsung’s success to strong sales of the company’s Gear S3 smartwatch; launched in November last year, the Gear S3 is growing in popularity due to its battery life and an extensive list of functionalities, including Samsung Pay support. Most recently, Samsung added a bevy of new features to two variants of the device – the Gear S3 Frontier and Gear S3 Classic. The latest additions to the devices include the ability to add date and music details to some of the watch faces and reminders you set on the Gear S3 using S Voice. Fitbit has been seeing dwindling sales for the past couple of months but the company is still an industry behemoth and has a realistic chance of bouncing back in the short term.
Prior to the rise of Fitbit connected wristbands and other devices, Samsung had the second largest share in the wearables market. Fitbit took that spot from Samsung in 2016 and has been enjoying relatively large success until its growth stagnated earlier this year. The hope now is for Samsung and other smartwatch manufacturers to continue to add innovative features to their wearable device offerings and possibly try to win (back) a larger segment of the wearable market.