Apple Watch 2 won’t save Apple’s smartwatch sales – analyst

The Apple Watch may have seen some success in 2015, but it might not be the same story this year.
Apple Watch shipments are set to plummet in comparison to last year according to a prominent industry analyst.
Ming-Chi Kuo, of KGI Securities, estimates that Apple will sell 7.5 million Apple Watch units in 2016, as reported by MacRumors.
That’s down from the 10.6 million Apple Watches shipped in the eight months Apple’s wearable was on sale in 2015.
According to Kuo, Apple will begin mass-producing the unconfirmed Apple Watch 2 in the third quarter of 2016. Kuo’s note predicts that the watch will launch alongside the iPhone 7 in September.
That’s in contrast to a recent note from analyst Brian White, which suggested that the Apple Watch 2 would arrive at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
The same note claimed that the Apple Watch 2 would be significantly slimmer than the original Apple Watch.
It’s still not clear what improvements will feature in the Apple Watch 2, but rumours suggest the inclusion of a more powerful processor and a FaceTime video camera.
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Apple hasn’t made any official comment regarding an Apple Watch 2 launch, so take this report with due caution.
The original Apple Watch was unveiled by CEO Tim Cook on September 9, 2014, but didn’t start shipping until April 24, 2015.
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