Pixel Watch proves popular as Google surges to second place in wearable shipments

New insights from analysts indicate that Google shipped 880,000 Pixel Watch devices in Q4 2022, boosting the company to second place in the market.

The report from Canalys suggests that the debut smartwatch shifted enough units in its first three months of availability to help capture 8% of the total share and sneak ahead of Samsung, which slipped to 5.9%.

According to the data, Apple also continued its streak as the resounding market leader, accounting for nearly 28% of all wearable shipments. Where the Pixel Watch was just under 1 million units shipped, Apple moved just shy of 14 million in the same period.

The figures appear to be pretty accurate, too, with the required Google Pixel Watch app recently moving past 500,000 downloads. This would indicate that most in circulation have been sold.

The Pixel Watch may have seen a decent level of popularity, then, but it's important to note that Google's overall wearable figures are also propped up by Fitbit sales.

While there are no details regarding which Fitbit devices were most popular, they do seem to account for around 3 million of Google's shipments. 

But with Google continuing to nerf Fitbit smartwatches - be it through taking away community features or removing the ability to use third-party apps - we would expect that the Pixel Watch closes the gap over coming generations. 

If it is to do so, however, Google has plenty of problems to address with the Pixel Watch 2 - not least the lackluster battery life available in the debut model.

And it's not just going to be about improving its own device or overcoming in-house competition, either, with the Apple Watch Series 9 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 likely to launch beforehand and offer their own range of advancements.