Samsung Holds 71 Percent Global Smartwatch Share in Q1 2014: Report

Samsung's first ever smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, which was launched alongside the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (Review | Pictures)handset, has reportedly captured 71 percent of the total smartwatch market share in the Q1 of 2014.

As per a Strategy Analytics report, out of the total smartwatch unit sales, which were 700,000 units in the Q1 of 2014, Samsung sold a total of 500,000 units - giving the Korean tech firm a massive lead over its competitors like Sony, Pebble and Qualcomm Toq,

The sales for Samsung's smartwatch are said to have been bumped up considerably when compared to its sales last year - 1,000,000 units overall with 52 percent market share.

Compared to Samsung, its two arch rivals in the wearables segment, Sony and Pebble, both sold 80,000 units sold with 11.4 percent market share each. Following them are Motorola and Qualcomm, both with 10,000 units sold and 1.4 percent share.

Samsung is poised to reach more sales unit numbers for its wearables based on the fact that it has been clubbing them with its top-end handsets. While at its launch, the Galaxy Gear was compatible only with the Galaxy Note 3 phablet, Samsung slowly extended the support to Galaxy Round, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy S3. Furthermore, the Korean tech firm is expected to eventually capture more market share once its Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit (Review | Pictures) gain traction in the market.

Last week, a Samsung spokesperson confirmed that the Android OS in the company's first smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, will be stripped off, and the smartwatch will be refreshed with Tizen.

Unfortunately, the South Korean giant did not share any details about the schedule of the update release. Reports also indicate that the Galaxy Gear post the Tizen OS update will be able to track sleep patterns of the users, while using the Sleep mode, while it can also track workouts in Exercise mode. Samsung is also said to add a standalone music player to the smartwatch.