Apple Watch Sets New Record With Estimated 11.8 Million Shipments Last Quarter

Apple Watch shipments totaled an impressive 11.8 million units in the third quarter of 2020, up nearly 75% from 6.8 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2019, according to figures shared today by research firm IDC.

apple watch series 6 blood oxygen monitoring 1
11.8 million units appears to be a new quarterly record for the Apple Watch, as Statista shows that shipments of the device have never exceeded 9.2 million in any prior quarter, based on data from research firm Strategy Analytics. The third quarter of 2020 encompassed the launch of the high-end Apple Watch Series 6 and mid-range Apple Watch SE, and the Apple Watch Series 3 remains available, providing customers with several price points.

As usual, the big caveat here is that Apple does not disclose Apple Watch unit sales in its earnings reports, so any figures from research firms are estimates. That said, Apple's wearables category brought in a record $7.9 billion in revenue last quarter, and given that this segment includes products like the Apple Watch and AirPods, there is evidence to suggest that the Apple Watch has been selling quite well as of late.

IDC estimates that the Apple Watch held 21.6% market share among wrist-worn wearables shipped worldwide last quarter, trailing in second behind Xiaomi's estimated 24.5% market share, but this includes everything from high-end smartwatches to basic fitness trackers like Xiaomi's Mi Band, which is priced under $50.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11
Tag: IDC
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

Popular Stories

airpods pro 3 purple

New, Higher End AirPods Pro Coming This Year

Tuesday January 20, 2026 9:05 am PST by
Apple is planning to debut a high-end secondary version of AirPods Pro 3 this year, sitting in the lineup alongside the current model, reports suggest. Back in September 2025, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to introduce a successor to the AirPods Pro 3 in 2026. This would be somewhat unusual since Apple normally waits around three years to make major...
smaller dynamic island iphone 18 pro Filip Vabrous%CC%8Cek

iPhone 18 Pro Leak: Smaller Dynamic Island, No Top-Left Camera Cutout

Tuesday January 20, 2026 2:34 am PST by
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely. Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the ...
iOS 27 Mock Quick

iOS 27 Will Add These 8 New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday January 18, 2026 3:51 pm PST by
iOS 27 is still many months away, but there are already plenty of rumors about new features that will be included in the software update. The first beta of iOS 27 will be released during WWDC 2026 in June, and the update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

MacBook Pro Buyers Now Facing Up to a Two-Month Wait Ahead of New Models

Sunday January 18, 2026 6:50 pm PST by
MacBook Pro availability is tightening on Apple's online store, with select configurations facing up to a two-month delivery timeframe in the United States. A few 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro configurations with an M4 Pro chip are not facing any shipping delay, but estimated delivery dates for many configurations with an M4 Max chip range from February 6 to February 24 or even later. At...
Liquid Glass App Store Feature

App Store and Apple TV Experiencing Outage

Tuesday January 20, 2026 4:36 pm PST by
Apple's App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple TV service are experiencing an outage at the current time, according to Apple's System Status page. Apple says that some users may be experiencing issues with the App Store and iTunes Store. Apple also says some users may be seeing intermittent issues with Apple TV. The Apple TV Channels feature is down too, and users may be unable to access some...

Top Rated Comments

eric89074 Avatar
67 months ago
There is no smart watch market. Only an apple watch market.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Radeon85 Avatar
67 months ago
Absolutely love my Series 6 ?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djcerla Avatar
67 months ago
Revisiting the MR comment section on Watch (and iPod) introduction days is always highly entertaining.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
haruhiko Avatar
67 months ago

There is no smart watch market. Only an apple watch market.
Very much like the iPad market.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mlody Avatar
67 months ago
I am happily using my S4 SS, while the wife is using SS S6 and my older daughter is still using my old SS S2. We are very happy with Apple Watch and suckers for stainless steel - once you go stainless steel, you cant go back :) We tend to skip few generations to offset the costs of SS - works just fine for us.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wesley96 Avatar
67 months ago
I’ve been using Apple Watch since the first generation (“Series 0”) and while that was slow and not quite “there” I saw a lot of potential. It got a lot better next year, and by Series 3 and 4 it got pretty solid. Apple Watches are now the gold standard in wearables and the market reflects this.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)