UPDATED 01:36 EDT / JULY 08 2015

NEWS

Apple Watch sales down 90 percent in U.S., says report

A new consumer market research report claims that Apple’s daily Apple Watch sales have dropped by as much as 90 percent compared to sales in the first week after the wearable’s launch.

In a report shared with MarketWatch, California-based research firm Slice Intelligence found that during June Apple sold less than 20,000 Apple Watches per day in the U.S., with sales on some days dropping to below 10,000 units to as low as just 4,000 in late June.

According to Slice, this represents a 90 percent decline in daily sales compared to the 1.5 million Apple Watches — or roughly 200,000 per day — the firm estimates Apple sold during the first week of sales after the wearable went on sale on April 10.

Slice’s Apple Watch sales estimates are based on an analysis and extrapolation of data from e-receipts sent to “millions” of email addresses following online purchases. The data does not include sales in Canada, Australia, U.K., China, or the eleven other countries where Apple Watch is available.

In addition to the sharp decline in sales, Slice found that two-thirds of Apple Watches sold to date have been the Sport model which retails for $349. The firm had previously found that 17 percent of first time Apple Watch buyers purchased an additional Apple-made band, increasing Apple’s profit margin on each purchase.

On the other end of the spectrum, Apple’s high-end 18k gold Apple Watch Edition with a price tag starting at $10,000 have only sold 2,000 units to date, Slice found.

Conflicting Apple Watch sales estimates

In stark contrast to Slice’s estimates, in May Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty raised her sales estimates for the Apple Watch’s first 12 months by 20 percent from 30 million units to 36 million units bases on a wearables survey conducted by her firm.

Slightly more optimistic than Slice’s estimates, but more than 50 percent less that Huberty’s forecast, is KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who, on the same day in May, slashed his firm’s forecast for Apple Watch sales to 15 million units, down from a previous estimate of 20 to 30 million.

We won’t know until we know

To date Apple has not revealed sales figures for Apple Watch and has also said it will not break out the numbers separately in its quarterly earnings reports, but rather group watch sales under “Other Product”, which combines sales of iPod, Apple TV, Beats Electronics accessories, and now Apple Watch.

Apple’s third-quarter results are due out on July 21 at 2 PM PST.

Main image credit: fancycrave1 via Pixabay.com

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