How many people do you know yet with an Apple Watch? Probably not many. While Apple Watch sales have made the device Apple’s best-selling new product launch, sales are far from the high expectations that led up to the watch’s pre-order launch on April 10th and delayed in-store availability this month.
Apple knows this, so the company didn’t exactly gloat about Apple Watch sales during its latest earnings call. CEO Tim Cook didn’t provide any specific Apple Watch sales numbers, but analysts have dissected some of the couched language to shed light on how well the Apple Watch has been selling.
Although Apple has lumped its Watch revenue as part of its ‘Other Products’ category, Cook did say that “It would not be an inaccurate thing to look at the sequential revenue, the year-over-year change and assume that was the total watch revenue.”
Apple CFO Luca Maestri clarified this by stating that “The contribution from Apple Watch accounted for well over 100% of the growth of the category,” due to declining sales of the iPod, Beats headphones, and other Apple accessories.
Apple’s fastest-selling new product?
So far the guess is that Apple has raked in about $1 billion in revenue on Apple Watch sales of between 2 and 2.5 million units, according to the veteran mobile analyst firm Juniper Research. Juniper bases this estimate on Apple’s year-over-year revenue increase against an overall year-over-year decline in Apple’s Other Products category.
Apple’s Maestri did reveal that the Apple Watch has sold more than the first iPhone or iPad in a comparable period of 87 days. Of those two, the first iPad was the hotter product–selling two million in just 60 days.
Apple Watch sales were hurt to some degree because of supply issues this past spring. But the watch is now available in Apple stores throughout the US and will be available to buy in UK Apple stores starting on July 29th.
Apple Watch sales & revenue breakdown
Apple’s Other Products segment has been on a year-over-year decline of approximately $200 million until the Apple Watch launch, so Jupiter reasons that if we assume a similar decrease this quarter, then Watch revenue is approximately $1 billion. And if the Apple Watch Sport has a 75% or greater share of the product line’s revenue, Juniper calculates that results in more than 2.5 million Apple Watch units sold.
“This makes it the most successful smartwatch launch to date, with no other launches coming close in a comparable time period,” says Juniper devices analyst James Moar. “However, we continue to see that the product is running out of steam.”
With an expected decline in sales following launch, Moar says this means that we’re “unlikely to see more than seven million Apple Watches sold by the end of 2015, even with a boost to sales over the Christmas period.”
While there are reports that the $10,000+ Apple Watch Edition has sold out in China, Moar says that this is unlikely to be the case.
Apple reported total third-quarter revenue of $49.6 billion, with earnings of $10.7 billion. The company’s year-over-year growth rate so far this year is its fastest in over three years, with revenues up 33% and earnings per share up 45%. You can read and hear Apple’s 2015 Q3 earnings call here.
