Samsung Faces Trouble with Smartwatches, Galaxy Watch 8 Potentially Serving as Final Hail Mary
In the dynamic world of smartwatches, Samsung, once a formidable competitor to Apple, is experiencing a decline in its market share. According to recent reports, Samsung's global smartwatch shipments dropped by a significant 19% year-over-year in Q1 2025, placing the South Korean tech giant fourth globally behind Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi [1][3][4].
The global smartwatch market is undergoing a slight shrinkage (2% YoY decline), with notable deceleration in key regions like India and reduced sales of Apple watches, further intensifying competition [3]. The market shift favouring value pricing is another factor contributing to Samsung's struggles, as Chinese brands Huawei and Xiaomi continue to surge with strong growth, each growing shipment volumes by 53% [1][3][4].
Samsung faces challenges in important regions such as North America and Europe, where its premium Galaxy Watch lineup struggles against rising value-priced segments and increasing Chinese competition [2]. The decline in demand for Samsung's previous-generation models across all major markets has also played a role in the shipment drop in Q1 2025 [3].
Amidst these challenges, Samsung is set to unveil the Galaxy Watch 8 series, including the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic and Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025), at a major event on July 9, 2025. This launch could help Samsung regain some lost market share by refreshing its product lineup [1][2]. Reservations are already open with promotional incentives, indicating Samsung's confidence that the new models will stimulate consumer interest [1].
However, analysts note that Q1 is typically a weak quarter for Samsung before new product releases, so an improvement in shipments and market positioning may occur in Q3 2025 after the Galaxy Watch 8 becomes widely available [2].
The smartwatch market in 2025 is more competitive than ever, with more players entering the wearables market and Apple focusing on health and accessibility. Google's Pixel Watch 2 has posted solid gains in the smartwatch market, while brands like Noise and Fire-Boltt are thriving in the budget wearables segment, particularly in emerging markets like India [5].
Samsung needs a significant success with its upcoming Galaxy Watch models to halt its smartwatch market decline. However, since the switch to Wear OS 3 in 2021, Samsung's Galaxy Watches haven't made a significant enough leap forward to differentiate themselves from Google's Pixel Watch ecosystem [6]. To generate interest, Samsung is promoting new features for its upcoming wearables, but it remains uncertain whether these will convince people to upgrade due to rumoured price hikes [7].
In summary, Samsung's smartwatch sales decline is driven by fierce competition from rapidly growing Chinese brands, market shifts favouring value pricing, and weak performances of older models. The launch of the Galaxy Watch 8 series is Samsung's key strategy to reverse this trend and regain competitiveness in the global smartwatch market in the latter half of 2025 [1][2][3].
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2025/5/15/23014045/samsung-galaxy-watch-8-launch-event-july-9-2025 [2] https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/samsung-galaxy-watch-8-release-date-price-rumors-features-and-everything-we-know/ [3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1184653/worldwide-smartwatch-shipments-by-company/ [4] https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS48558423 [5] https://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-watch-market-share-decline-2025-6 [6] https://www.techradar.com/news/samsung-galaxy-watch-4-review [7] https://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-watch-8-release-date-price-rumors-features-and-everything-we-know
- The financial success of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Watch 8 series, set to be unveiled on July 9, 2025, could potentially help the South Korean tech giant regain market share in the global smartwatch industry, where it currently stands fourth behind Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi.
- As the smart-home-devices and gadgets market continues to evolve and grow, Samsung, a prominent player in the technology sector, faces challenges in maintaining its position in the smartwatch sub-market due to increased competition from Chinese brands like Huawei and Xiaomi, resulting in a 19% year-over-year decline in Samsung's global smartwatch shipments in Q1 2025.
