Apple Watch Sales Have Dropped Significantly, Analyst Says

Apple Watch sales are down 40% compared to the companies fiscal first quarter that ended in December, according to ITG Investment Research senior analyst Matthew Goodman.

Goodman believes that if Apple’s sales in the U.S. reflect worldwide sales, he believes that Apple only sold about 3.1 million units since the beginning of the year.

To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple Watch sales are down at this point in time. We’re about 1 year in and we haven’t seen any meaningful updates to the product, something that Apple isn’t accustomed to doing, particularly in a product that’s so new.

That said, the Apple Watch is likely doing much better than most of its competitors. In January, a study claimed that the Apple Watch had over 75% of the smartwatch marketshare in 2015, beating rivals like Samsung, Pebble, Motorola and Huawei. If I were a betting man, I would bet that 3.1 million is a lot more watches than what some of the other manufactures are seeing.

The Watch has proved to be a fascinating product. I still wear mine pretty much daily. That said, there’s a lot of low hanging fruit here and I believe we’re going to see a significant leap in hardware and software when the next version ships. When you’re dealing with something so small, it’s not all that surprising that it takes a little more time to get things right, especially since health and sensors are increasingly going to become important aspects of the Watch.

So regardless of sales being down, I’m still extremely bullish on the Apple Watch. Dismissing something this early usually isn’t the smart route to take, especially against Apple.