Apple continued to dominate the North American wearables market in the second quarter of 2020, with a growth of nine percent year-on-year, according to a new report by Canalys.
The shipments of wearables in the North American market grew 10 percent in the second quarter of 2020, but the value of the market remained flat year-on-year. A boom in low-end activity trackers meant that the average selling price of a wearable declined by 11 percent to $235. The surge in more basic devices offset the United States' third consecutive quarter of smartwatch decline.
In spite of this, the Apple Watch Series 5 was America's best-selling smartwatch, matching last year's Series 4 model for shipments. Demand for the Apple Watch Series 3 also grew by 30 percent.
Recent IDC research similarly showed Apple's ongoing dominance of the global wearables market. North America was one of only two regions to demonstrate sustained consumer demand for wearables with quarter-on-quarter growth.
Canalys predicts that going into 2021, medical-oriented devices will move certain products into an elevated tier, creating much stronger differentiation between casual fitness devices and those that offer advanced health tracking. The upcoming Apple Watch Series 6 will likely contribute to this by offering new health-tracking features such as blood oxygen monitoring.
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by Juli Clover
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products.
Here's what's supposedly coming:
An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 12:22 pm PST by Juli Clover
The next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup.
Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:19 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's next-generation Studio Display is expected to arrive early next year, and a new report allegedly provides a couple more details on the external monitor's capabilities.
According to internal Apple code seen by Macworld, the new external display will feature a variable refresh rate capable of up to 120Hz – aka ProMotion – as well as support for HDR content. The current Studio...
They have a very strong incentive not to do this. Apple Watch is a product that keeps you locked to the iPhone (most of Apple's revenue) and their services ecosystem.
Switching to Android becomes a lot harder when you have to give up your apps, iCloud storage, HomePod and $300+ Watch.
Or, they would open up the Watch to non-iPhone owners, which is a huge number of people, who would then get a [hopefully positive] taste of the Apple eco-system and potentially increase the chances of getting more people to switch to iPhone. It’s how Apple grew its Mac business, by getting people comfortable with Apple products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad, who then wanted a Mac for work / school / personal use.
I wonder how much it will grow if Apple allowed using the Apple Watch without an iPhone.
They keep taking steps in that direction. I don’t think it’s a matter of permission, it’s a matter of them getting it to where they feel it can stand on its own. Now its got LTE, Software Update, and the App Store. I’d say it’s pretty close.
Had NO idea that the Numbers are so low Across the Board !
Esp. for AAPL with their next update, #6, out soon !
They may have taken market share away from others, but it doesn't look like much of a market to pursue !
AAPL may simply be in the smartwatch market for the Hype benefit !
Given the Pandemic and financial instability in many sectors, the growth for Apple while modest, is still a good sign, in my opinion. The other aspect that may reflect slower than expected numbers is technology is not where many want to see it with the Apple Watch. As such, many are holding on to their watches longer.
