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On the evening of December 18, Beijing time, Apple said in a statement to the media that it would stop selling Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 smart watch products in the United States later this week.
As for the specific end time, from December 21 at 3 p.m. EST, Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will no longer be available for purchase from Apple's official website in the United States, and the inventory of these two products in Apple retail stores will not be restocked after they are sold out on December 24.
Apple's suspension of sales of some Apple Watches was affected by Apple's previous patent dispute with medical device company Masimo. In October 2013, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that the two Apple Watch watches infringed some of Masimo's blood oxygen sensor patents, and therefore required Apple to "stop and terminate" the import and sale of its Apple Watch with blood oxygen detection function.
Apple's financial report data shows that in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 (as of September 30), the sales of wearables, home and accessories, including Apple Watch and AirPods, were $9.322 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 3.4%, and revenue accounted for 10.4% of the total revenue in the fourth fiscal quarter.
With the increasing consumer demand for health monitoring and smart wearable devices, the smart watch market has ushered in the opportunity of rapid development. Technology companies are launching smartwatches with richer features and sleeker designs, and the competition is intensifying. At the same time, the functions of smart watches are also constantly upgraded, in addition to the traditional time display function, it also has a variety of functions such as health monitoring, communication, and payment, which has attracted more consumers' attention.
-- Global smart watch shipments
From 2016 to 2021, global smart watch shipments fluctuated and increased, and in 2021, with the gradual recovery of the epidemic, global smart watch shipments grew rapidly, exceeding 100 million pieces throughout the year, an increase of 28.31% over 2020.
In the first quarter of 2022, a total of 41.7 million wrist smart wearable devices were shipped globally, of which 32 million smart watch shipments were made, accounting for 77%.
-- Apple's shipments account for the lead
In 2022, Apple's shipments will account for more than 34% of the global smartwatch market, far exceeding other smartwatch brands; Samsung and Huawei accounted for 10% and 7% of shipments, respectively, behind Apple.
TechInsights, a research institution, released a forecast that from 2023 to 2028, the average selling price of global smart watch products will decline, but the sales volume will increase steadily, which in turn will increase the revenue of global smart watches. Global smartwatch revenue is expected to grow by 7% in 2024, reaching a market size of $35 billion by 2028.
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