Strategic Review
A decade with the Apple Watch
Thoughts, observations, and exclusive new data, after 3,675 days on the wrist.
By Dan Frommer on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 8:00 am
There are very few things, other than basic biological functions and coffee, that I’ve done every day for the past 3,675 days. One of them is wearing an Apple Watch, which first went on sale in late April 2015, and recently celebrated its tenth birthday.
The Apple Watch is a fascinating product. It is one of the most successful consumer products in history — a true mainstream hit that’s generated more than $100 billion in revenue in a decade.
Around one in three iPhone owners in the US also claims to own an Apple Watch, according to my recent Consumer Trends research. Its popularity skews younger and wealthier, but is evenly distributed among Trump and Harris voters.
Yet because it’s only perhaps Apple’s fifth or sixth most important innovation this century (iPhone, iPod, Apple Silicon, App Store, MacBook Air, Watch, AirPods?), it’s often overlooked or at least overshadowed. A few of these products legitimately changed the world. The Watch — while an important part of Apple’s ecosystem — has not.
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Hi, I’m Dan Frommer and this is The New Consumer, a publication about how and why people spend their time and money.
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