The only Apple Watches I’ve seen in the wild so far have been strapped to men’s wrists, and according to one of the world’s top Apple analysts, that could be a bad indicator for the digital timepieces’ popularity.
In a new note to investors, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has cut his 2015 expectations for Apple Watch sales from 30 million down to just 15 million after research found that Apple Watch has attracted mostly men.
Apple has never said the smaller 38mm Apple Watch is specifically for women while the 42mm version is for men, but KGI’s researchers found that demand for the smaller Apple Watch is significantly lower than the 42mm units.
“We have learned that 42mm Apple Watch accounts for 60-70% of production. However, the shipping times of 38mm models are generally earlier than those of 42mm. We believe this is because demand for 38mm watches is significantly below that of 42mm ones. We estimate that 42mm models account for over 80% of sales. Assuming that 42mm and 38mm watches are mainly purchased by men and women respectively, the Apple Watch has attracted mostly men.”
It could just be that women are opting to buy the 42mm Apple Watch instead of the tiny 38mm. Both sizes are significantly smaller than popular Android smartwatches on the market, but the 42mm comes with a slightly larger display and better battery life.
We know Katy Perry and Beyonce love their Apple Watches, and a few of our wives here at Cult of Mac have ordered one. Surely more women will flock to the device once it matures.
As a result of the disappointing 38mm sales, Kuo has lowered his third-quarter forecasts by 30 percent to 5 million to 6 million units sold. Like the original iPhone before it, Kuo sees a number of problematic areas that need to be improved, specifically the smartwatch’s battery life, the Digital Crown, and the lack of a truly killer app.
Via: MacRumors
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
23 responses to “Apple Watch’s biggest problem: Women don’t dig it”
I knew Beyonce was a man
I’m a woman. I totally dig it.
I am not sure…seems to me the only people that have them are those that obsessed about them, and were up between 12:00 and 12:05 PDT on April 10.
I’m a large man (6’3″ 230) and I wear the 38mm because I prefer a smaller watch, but that’s not on trend right now (as my wife, who wants one, has pointed out).
Interest in my watch as I’m wearing it around has come from women at about a 3:1 ratio and almost every interaction includes a comment about the watch being a lot slimmer and sleeker than expected. It’s not that women don’t want the Apple watch (in fact I think it may be a better product for woman who carry their phones in a bag and are more likely to miss a call or text than anyone else) it’s that that people are still skeptical about the style of the device and are waiting to see it in the wild before making the purchase.
I have seen more women wear it over men so far in Phoenix.
Geez, if you’re gonna say “…don’t dig it”, the headline really ought to read “”…chicks don’t dig it”, doncha think?
Giggitty-giggity.
Women have been the ones asking me about my 38M FAR more than any man, like 8 to 1 so far.
Kuo has spoken and he’s the man. We shouldn’t question his judgment. If he says AppleWatch is going to be a sales flop, then he knows. Only 15 million AppleWatches being sold this year seems like a HUGE flop. We should believe Kuo instead of Tim Cook.
/s
Yeah, you probably should lol
I think we’ll see greater numbers of women wearing them once they become available to walk into the store and buy one. It’s almost impossible to definitively declare a trend when the only people who have them right now are those who stayed up to buy them in the first 10 minutes they were available online.
My girlfriend absolutely loves her 38mm Apple Watch Sport. She actually now wishes she had sprung for the stainless steel and sapphire version because she scratched her screen glass.
The high ratio of 42mm versus 38mm sales may simply be due to both men and women opting for the 42mm size.
I have one and I’ve seen women with it both with 42. The 42 is like the better of the two sizes. Its more unisex, 42 is still on the smallish size. . to me 38 in niche size. I think that it would have been better to make the 38 to order and focus resources to 42…But then again that may be the plan as this is just and observers opinion piece.
I know more women who own one than men. Stupid suggestion by the KGI guy. In any case, many women like the 42 (I have the 38 and am thrilled with it).
As I said before these guys are just guessing and nothing else.
If he were not guessing he wouldn’t be singing a new tune.
The strangest thing is they are paid top dollars to make guesses.
Yet when they predicted really high sales, they were spot on lol
As I said they were guessing and even a broken clock is correct twice a day. LOL
People prefer the larger watch that costs $50 more?? This reminds me of the premature accusations of failure from the peanut gallery when sales of the iPhone 5s exceeded that of the less expensive 5c. Someone always seems to be disappointed with Apple’s “poor” sales, based on expectations that they dream up themselves. Meanwhile Apple’s profits soar.
Impossible. It’s just that women and men are going the ‘big is better’ way. I’m not sure if the 42mm has a bigger battery than the 38mm but the small difference would help immensely in reading the screen, at least thats what most tech-lovers universally agree on. The 38mm should’ve debuted with its own version of hello-kitty straps and then there’d be a backlog till the end of this year :D
Did anyone expect women to lead early adoption of a new tech product??
Ming-Chi Kuo is and always has been full of shit.
I have seen at least twelve ladies with these watches, but only one man.
I am a dude, but working in a retail store that sells women’s wear. I just got my 42mm space black watch yesterday, and I already had some ladies customers asking about it. They wanted to get one but weren’t exactly enthusiastic enough to pre-order on the first day, and would rather wait until they can get them in store. I actually spoke to one lady who was wearing a 42 mm with milanese loop, and waiting for another 42 mm with steel links for her husband. After talking to some of them, it’s consensus that 38mm is too small for even ladies’ wrists.
AT LAST women are glad to have something THE SAME, wihtout shit competition in expensiveness