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Apple is the biggest wearable maker once again

Apple is the biggest wearable maker once again

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Thanks to the Apple Watch Series 3

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Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple is once again on top in the wearable market for the past quarter, according to Canalys. Apple shipped 3.9 million Watches, marking its strongest quarter of 2017 so far. About 800,000 of the shipments were Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE capabilities.

Apple’s competitors, Xiaomi and Fitbit, trailed behind in Q3, shipping 3.6 million and 3.5 million wearables, respectively. Still, their performance was better than average in the sluggish Q3, according to Canalys, where business has historically been slower.

The Apple Watch Series 3 initially had some LTE connectivity issues that were fixed by a software update a few weeks after its release. And so far, the Watch has been the biggest driver of Apple’s wearable sales.

Analysts had originally predicted a stronger second half for Apple, driven by the Series 3, but Apple didn’t have enough Watches produced and ready to meet demand, similar to the backordering problem that fans of the iPhone X faced. Of course, as we’re heading into the holiday season, we can only expect demand to get more frenetic from here.