Apple saw its number of smartwatch shipments increase, but witnessed market share decrease amid strong performances from other brands, in the second quarter of 2018.

According to Canalys, the tech behemoth sold 30 per cent more Apple Watches than Q2 2017 in reaching 3.5m shipments globally, as the smartwatch market reached 10m units sold with Fitbit and Garmin also performing strongly.

As a result of strong growth elsewhere in the market, Apple’s share fell from 43 per cent in Q1 2018 to 34 per cent in Q2 2018.

“Apple faces a growing threat from competitors, which have started to pass the million quarterly shipments mark,” said Vincent Thielke, research analyst at Canalys. “Vendors are trying to differentiate their products with advanced heart-rate metrics, smart coaching and mapping, and consumers have a much wider range of smartwatches to choose from than they did a year ago.

“Amid further competition from Samsung and Google, rumoured to be launching Galaxy and Pixel watches respectively, Apple needs to work out how to drive refreshes in the markets such as the US, where its penetration into the existing iPhone installed base has started to level off.”