Apple Watch sales have failed to meet expectations as customers have balked at the high price tag, it has been revealed.
Taking estimates from several analysts, the general wisdom is that Apple has sold between 2.5 million and 3 million watches.
Apple has put the watch in its “other” category that includes the iPod, Beats accessories, Apple TV and so on.
Compared to the previous quarter – before the gadget went on sale – the “other” category is up 56%, with quarterly revenue of $2.6bn.
“Other” also now includes revenue from Apple’s acquisition of audio equipment maker Beats (which closed a month after the 2014 report), so Apple Watch sales do not account for all of the $1.3bn difference between the two numbers.
Speaking to The Times, Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst at IDC, said in this context he was cutting his own estimates, remarking: “There are so many gadgets out there. If people have a smartphone and a tablet, why do they need something else on their wrist?”
Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “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.” That suggested Apple Watch accounted for most of the growth and Cook urged against maths to determine watch sales.
iPhone and iPad sales
The iPhone continued to do well, selling 47.5 million in the three months to 27 June, up 35% on this time last year.
The total is down 22% on the previous quarter, but that’s largely because consumers know Apple is about to release a new model – probably in the autumn – so many will wait until then.
iPad sales continued decline, attributed to bigger iPhones being available. A sixth consecutive quarter of falls – but iPad still dominates the high-end tablet market. Apple sold 11m units in the last quarter.