Apple sold more watches than the entire Swiss watch industry last year

Apple Inc is estimated to have shipped 30.7m of its smartwatches in 2019, compared to 21.1m for all Swiss watch brands combined. The figures represent a 36 per cent increase in the sale of Apple watches, compared to a 13 per cent decline for Swiss watchmakers.

The onslaught has even led traditional watchmakers to launch their own brands of smartwatch, the report from data and business consulting firm, Strategy Analytics said. In the three months to December Apple’s ‘wearable’ category, which includes its watches and wireless headphones called Airpods, grew by 27 per cent year-on-year to £7.7 billion.

Boss Tim Cook said Apple could not make enough Watch Series 3 devices to keep up with demand. ‘Traditional Swiss watch makers are losing the smartwatch wars,’ the report added.

Last week Apple celebrated a US$91 billion Christmas bonanza as demand soared for Airpods and iPhone sales picked up for the first time in a year.