I took it seriously at first. Anecdotally, I see them being worn much less by my peers than 2-3 years ago. Cool/newness factor died, IMO. Then I looked at stats:
> Apple shipped 7.6 million smartwatches worldwide in the first quarter of 2020, according to recent data from Strategy Analytics, an increase of 23% compared to 6.2 million in the first quarter of 2019. As such, Apple now claims 55% of the smartwatch market, representing a slight increase from the 54% it controlled in the same period one year ago, according to the research firm. [0]
While the coolness factor has gone down (anecdotally, I've gone back to wearing a nice watch when out on date or something; or I would if going out was still a thing) people are still using the Apple watch for everything else.
I've had both a Polar and Garmin watch and neither were close to my Apple 3 for GPS accuracy or heart rate. My wife has a 2020 Garmin and we stand around waiting for her watch to get all of it's "bars"
I traded out my Apple Watch for the Garmin Forerunner 245 (2019), and couldn't be happier. The newer Apple Watches may have improved on these since I had an Apple Watch 3.
* The 245 locks GPS really, really fast. I never have to wait for it. Much, much faster than my older 630. The Apple Watch doesn't even tell you if it has locked a signal. I think it would lock fast if I had my phone with me, since it would use the phone's GPS to save watch battery, but I think it would be confused if I left my phone in the house while stepping out the front door for a run.
* The 245 has physical buttons that reliably work with sweaty fingers in the summer and with gloves in the winter. So many times I couldn't stop a workout on the Apple Watch because of the swipe needed.
* Display is always on, no need to raise my arm directly in front of my face to turn it on. Too many times I had to raise or twist my arm multiple times to see my pace with Apple.
The Apple Watch battery life whilst using GPS is something like 5 or 6 hours, right? I don't know about a 245 but my Garmin watch does double that normally, and over a day in the less accurate ultratrac mode. And yes, I have required more than 5 hours on a few occasions. 5 hours is probably enough for most people most of the time but it's lacking compared to what a real sports watch can do and I personally wouldn't pay top money for Apple's half-arsed version.
Oh man, yeah, the sweat thing is painful. I don't know why they can't have the buttons work in "water mode". I sweat a lot in the summer and run in the rain ...
