Smartwatch sales were higher than luxury Swiss watches for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2015, with Apple and Samsung selling 80 percent of smartwatches during the holiday season. Smart watch sales were about 200,000 units higher than the luxury timepieces produced and shipped from Switzerland.
The sales report was released by consulting firm Strategy Analytics. During 2015's last quarter 8.1 million smartwatches were shipped, while 7.9 million Swiss watches were shipped, according to Fortune.
Smartwatch shipments skyrocketed a year-over-year 316 percent last year. The figure was 1.9 million in 2014.
Meanwhile, the number of Swiss watches shipped showed a 5 percent year-over-year decrease from 2014. The figure was 8.3 million during Q4 of that year.
Apple earned 63 percent of the global smartwatch market during Q4 of last year. Samsung was at No. 2 with 16 percent.
Fossil bought the wearable fitness company Misfit in last November and has plans to roll out over 100 connected products this year, according to MarketWatch. Meanwhile, Fitbit's new smartwatch Blaze is scheduled to ship in March.
Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas also introduced a new smartwatch model this week named Dial. It works without being connected to a smartphone.
The musician's first smartwatch was called Puls. Meanwhile, Dial runs on an OS named AneedA that also functions as the device's voice assistant.
Will.i.am's new model is a little wider than the first one. It includes a 2MP front-facing camera and the ability to text, call, and play music.
Deloitte released a 2015 report on the Swiss watch market that showed 41 percent of watch executives had a negative outlook about the industry's future. However, that was greatly due to lower demand in China and Hong Kong, and a strong Swiss franc.
It is clear the luxury watch industry saw wrist wearables as a threat to their business. However, only one-quarter said that it was.
Neil Mawston is an executive director at Strategy Analytics. He said that the Swiss watch industry has slowly entered the smartwatch market.
Another problem is that last year Swiss watch makers overproduced their timepieces. Watch brands saw a higher demand but their sales figures have been lower than expected.
Here's Will.i.am's first smartwatch: