New | Users of the Apple Watch in China swell to more than 1 million in August

The number of Apple Watch users in mainland China crossed the one million mark last month to represent more than 20 per cent of total units that have sold worldwide, according to the latest market estimates.

"Now that the Apple Watch is easier to get in China, we've seen a significant ramp in users," Michael Clendenin, the founder and managing director at Shanghai-based research firm RedTech Advisors, told the South China Morning Post yesterday. "Breaking one million [users] took 17 weeks."

Clendenin said unit sales are slowing this third quarter, but he expected an uptick during the holidays in the next two quarters.

Apple's smartwatch was initially released in nine markets from April 24, including the mainland and Hong Kong.

RedTech's latest quarterly survey on the Apple Watch and the firm's proprietary smart device tracker programme with TalkingData, a so-called big data analytics company in Beijing, showed that the number of Apple Watch users on the mainland reached 1.07 million as of August 23.

That was up from 626,000 at the end of June, when the mainland accounted for about 22 per cent of the estimated 2.8 million Apple Watches sold worldwide in the second quarter.

"We track watches that have been activated, not shipped," Clendenin said.