Apple Watch, like iPad, is a segment that only exists because Apple is involved in it. The fact that neither of them have serious competition is enough to show

Apple Watch, like iPad, is a segment that only exists because Apple is involved in it. The fact that neither of them have serious competition is enough to show how niche the segments are. If another company made the same products, they wouldn't enjoy the similar success because they lack Apple's "status" effect. Also, AirPods leadership isn't nearly as strong as you imply and is trending downwards [1]. > AirPods market share fell from 41% to 29% in the course of nine months, according to the latest Counterpoint data, but Apple remains well ahead of its nearest competitor, and most other big names remain in the 2-5% range. M1 is cool, I'll admit, but it is something that has more to do with Apple's scale. Google is coming out with Tensor cores, they've had TPUs for several years now and Samsung has had custom silicon for years as well. Large companies can afford to go into chip development and they do when they get a chance. M1 at the moment is not a standout feature. Sure, it can destroy Intel CPUs in the near future and I am looking forward to it. But I see it more of as an inevitability than Apple doing something "revolutionary" as the cool kids used to say a while back. If you are a 2 trillion company, it makes sense to move chip development in house rather than paying lofty premiums to a much smaller company. Vertical integration 101. This is what Google did with TPUs because they didn't want to pay Nvidia a lot of money. Also, why is my de facto usage incorrect (hyphenation aside)? [1] https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/14/airpods-market-share/ https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/14/airpods-market-share/