News in brief

A bite of the Apple

> APPLE WATCH DOMINATES SMARTWATCH MARKET

After hardly any growth in 2020, the global smartwatch market grew 24% year–over–year in 2021, according to Counterpoint Research.

Much of the growth was due to strong demand for sub–$100 smartwatches, Counterpoint said, but Apple Watch maintained its market dominance with more than 30% market share and accounted for more than half the total revenue in the smartwatch market worldwide. Samsung took Number 2 position at 10.2%, followed by Huawei at 7.7%.

> PRIVACY COSTS FACEBOOK

Apple’s new privacy measures in iOS will cost Facebook $10 billion in lost ad revenue over the year ahead, according to Facebook’s parent company, Meta. During an earnings call, Meta’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, said the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature, which requires apps to ask your permission before tracking you across other apps and websites, is hitting Facebook’s business. Facebook also reported a fall in daily active users (DAUs) over the quarter — the first fall ever — and a year–on–year growth in DAUs of only 5%. CEO Mark Zuckerberg blamed the slowdown partly on the rise of rival TikTok. Meta shares fell 20% afterwards, wiping $200 billion off the value of the company, the biggest–ever single–day fall in market cap for any company.