In the aftermath of Apple's earnings on Tuesday, investors were left asking one question: How many Watches did the tech giant sell?
Apple CEO Tim Cook remained tight-lipped on numbers but instead said the Watch had beat the company's own internal expectations. One problem: Nobody knows what those are.
Financial chief Luca Maestri said the Watch has sold more than the first iPhone or the iPad in a comparable period. The first iPad was the better selling of these two, and sold 2 million in 60 days, according to Juniper Research.
Apple 75% market share
A number of other research firms have also released notes with their forecasts.
Strategy Analytics said on Wednesday that the Apple sold 4 million devices in the second quarter of 2015, giving it a 75 percent share of the smartwatch market. The research firm also said shipments overall surged 457 percent annually to hit a record 5.3 million in the second quarter of 2015 compared to 1 million units during the same period last year.
Of course, the smartwatch market is very nascent and these figures must be seen as coming off a low base. For example, in the second quarter of 2014, before Apple launched its wearable, Samsung had a 73.6 percent market share. But in the second quarter of this year, that has plunged to just 7.5 percent.
"Apple Watch launched in 16 major countries and saw decent take-up from iPhone loyalists in the United States and elsewhere. Apple Watch has clearly raised the bar for the global smartwatch industry. The ball is now in the court of rivals, like Samsung, to respond," Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, said in a press release.
In a note released on Wednesday, BMO capital markets said that it estimates around 2.3 million Watch units were shipped. It also said that it expects 2016 shipments to hit 27 million, about 7 percent of the iPhone install base.
Juniper Research estimates that Apple sold between 2 million and 2.5 million units.
$1B revenues?
Apple also didn't break out any specific revenue figures for the Watch either. But some companies have been attempting to calculate it based on the revenues under the "other" category in Apple's earnings. This figure includes sales of Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats Electronics, iPod and Apple-branded and third-party accessories. Other product revenues were $2.6 billion for the third quarter—compared to $1.7 billion the prior quarter.
"If we assume the incremental $1 billion was all generated by Apple Watch (with an average sales price of $375), it would imply Apple Watch shipments of 2.5 million units in the Jun- Q, below the Street's expectation of 3.5-4.0 million units," Nomura said in a note on Wednesday.
"This is likely conservative, however, as Apple said other products (except for Apple Watch) declined q-q (quarter-on-quarter), implying the incremental contribution from Apple Watch was bigger than $1 billion."
Juniper research also said that revenue was likely $1 billion given similar calculations.
"The segment has been on a y-o-y (year-on-year) decline of approximately $200 million until the Apple Watch launch. If we assume a similar decrease this quarter, Watch revenue was approximately $1 billion," Juniper Research noted.