Why Apple Won The Smartwatch War

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When it comes to brand loyalty in tech, I can honestly say I go wherever I want, whenever I feel like it. Is MacOS better to use than ChromeOS, Windows or Linux? I run all of them and can make arguments as to why one would be a better purchase than the others for whoever is asking. What about Android vs. iOS? I didn’t get my first iPhone until 2016, after nearly half a decade exclusively on Android. I find many devices rotating in my pocket throughout the year that can claim a spot in my daily usage. However, the one piece of tech that has no competition in my opinion is a smartwatch. Since 2019, the Apple Watch has almost exclusively dominated my wrist as my favored smartwatch. How did I go from not using an iPhone to relying on an iPhone just to use an Apple Watch in only a couple years? It’s not as complex as it may seem.

How It Began

Moto 360

One of the first Android Wear champions

Pebble Time

The sequel from Pebble had its loyal fanbase

My first smartwatch was a beloved black Pebble I began using somewhere in 2013. That was my gateway into wearables and I quickly grew addicted to the form factor. Shortly after, I wore the Tizen powered Samsung Gear 2 with its clunky body everywhere I went thinking it was the coolest thing in the world. I got into the smartwatch game at a time where a majority of people would give me weird looks as if I was a Star Trek nerd for wearing a “phone on my wrist”. Moving from one Android Wear watch to another, sprinkled with Pebble sequels, it wasn’t until around 2017 that I began to notice a massive societal change. More and more people seemed to have a watch with a screen on their wrist. The watch that seemingly broke through to the mainstream? It was none other than the Apple Watch. 

Nowadays, I find myself on iOS as much if not more than I’m on Android. There’s still a dozen things I much prefer on Android, but the days where I would dread switching over to a new iPhone have seemingly vanished. I’ve actually longed to switch back to an iPhone while reviewing an Android phone more often than I’d ever think I would. Recently, I realized why I felt this way. I didn’t miss being on an Apple phone. I missed wearing an Apple Watch. Of all the smartwatches I’ve worn in nearly a decade, none have felt more comfortable on my wrist than Apple’s offering. While many smartwatches can do basically the same things as an Apple Watch, none of them provided a user experience as refined as the Silicon Valley giant’s. I just don’t have the same feeling for the Samsung Galaxy Watch as I do with the squared Apple competitor. That’s not to say that Galaxy Watches are bad watches. I enjoy using them when I’m on an Android phone. But if given an option, I would hands down choose an Apple Watch. It isn’t even a conundrum for me. 

Give Them Credit

And while it’s easy to chop a default win to Apple due to the lackluster competition from Google’s WearOS, I’d actually be inclined to give Apple a lot more credit. Who would have thought that in 2022, the best valued smartwatch and potentially best valued smartphone are made by Apple. The same Apple that for years had a perceived reputation for having customers overpay for a name tax. An Apple Watch SE is a mere $250. That’s actually tremendous value for a watch I chose to personally wear as my preferred model. I’ve owned smartwatches that cost more than the $250 price point and even if I did enjoy my time with it, none of them really immersed themselves into my life as an essential piece. There was always something about them that left me in search of something more. I feel that way sometimes about a new iPhone, but never about the Apple Watch. 

I think what Apple has done with the Watch series is create a tech gadget that holds certain crossover product prestige. Through the branding, the watch bands and even watch faces, Apple has created an ecosystem within an ecosystem. Of all the smartwatches on the market, the Apple Watch is the closest competitor to a traditional mechanical luxury watch we have in the smartwatch space. Add in the extra benefits of your smartphone such as the ability to answer phone calls and it’s an appealing product for many people who already have an iPhone. The same people that a decade ago would see my Gear 2 as a millennial annoyance and ask me to “shut off my phone” while in an outdoor auditorium are now sporting the same kind of technology on their wrist. Apple changed the way these people approached these gadgets and made it an essential part of their lives just as a Casio or Rolex did in previous decades. The fact that an Apple watch can be seen as a luxury item or an everyday working person’s watch, illustrates just how wide of a range the device has reached. It literally can be a Casio or a Rolex depending on the person. 

Smartwatches through a decade

Reaching a broad audience

Last year, I bought my Baby-Boomer Father an Apple Watch Series 6 for his birthday. I wanted to encourage an easier way for him to gauge his health as he reaches senior citizen thresholds. With all these sensors available at his disposal, his initial reluctance to own a smartwatch quickly became amusement and awe. This is a man who exclusively wore and collected mechanical watches for 50+ years. This is also someone who heavily dislikes altering routines and items in his life. He now wears his Apple Watch at least 3-4 days a week. That’s a big deal. He isn’t the only one. Strategy Analytics reported in a market research study that in 2019, Apple outsold the entire Swiss watch industry with their Apple Watch lineup. Apple says there are over 100 million current Apple Watch users as of 2021.

Smartwatches have come a long way since many of us tech enthusiasts first began drooling over the Pebble Watch. The Apple Watch was everything I wanted in a smartwatch that I began chasing after in 2013. While there inevitably will be a stagnation of enthusiasm for Apple Watches over time, I’ll always appreciate the little guy and everything it has provided for the smartphone space. 

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