Garmin Dethroned by Apple in 2024
The latest Strava stats for 2024 show the Apple Watch as the leading run recording device on Strava.
Q: Have Garmin’s recent gains reached a tipping point?
A: Probably not, as the market continues to grow! Here’s how Strava ranks uploads in 2024
The Run Stats
- Apple Watch Series
- Apple Watch SE
- Garmin Forerunner 245
The Ride Stats
- Garmin Edge 530
- Garmin Edge 830
- Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT V1
Contrast that to Strava’s equivalent 2023 stats, which showed that Wahoo Bolt was the leading device in the USA, but Edge 530 was the most prominent uploading bike device in the UK. On the running side, last year, the Forerunner 235 led in the UK, but in the USA, it was the Forerunner 245.
In a nutshell, the 2023 data was pants. But there is probably an element of truth in the 2024 data somewhere. Perhaps. Maybe.
2024 data revisited
This data appears to be global as the results are the same in all the UK, USA, and Indonesian (don’t ask!) data sources I have. Here are my exasperated comments about each of the 2024 items.
The Run Stats
- Apple Watch Series (presumably including Series 1 through 10, probably excludes Ultra ✔️)
- Apple Watch SE (presumably Gen 1 and Gen 2 combined ✔️)
- Garmin Forerunner 245 (presumably including music and non-music versions. Perhaps not both sizes of FR255, but they should be included to compare to Watch)
The Ride Stats
- Garmin Edge 530
- Garmin Edge 830 (kinda the same as the 530, but what’s a touchscreen amongst friends?)
- Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT V1 (really? It probably includes both generations, probably excludes ROAM 1/2)
As per my assumptions, Strava confirmed the data that made up the two Apple Watch listings and added:
I’m afraid on this occasion we aren’t able share any more specifics on the top gear information beyond what is already in the report.
The bottom Line
The bottom line is probably that the Apple Watch series is the leading running watch model for Strava usage. I would bet that Apple outstrips the totality of uploads from all Forerunners – just standing at the finish line of your local race or parkrun should anecdotally confirm that.
The other bottom line is probably that the Garmin Edge x30 series is the market leader over ELEMNT BOLT (all gens). Garmin would have an even more significant lead if you added 520, 540 and 840 to the same bucket and ROAM in the Wahoo bucket.
Some Takeouts
Garmin’s position as leader in cycling uploads is surely unassailable even over the medium-to-long term.
Remember that normal people keep their tech for at least 3 years and more like 5 years in the case of bike computers. Wahoo’s target of getting people to switch to them from Garmin is perhaps a reasonably easy one to chip away at over the years, but dominance can’t be achieved overnight. Wahoo’s recent large-format ELEMNT ACE possibly signals a move toward premium products (and a more significant margin) rather than going for volume against Edge 550/850 (although it will almost certainly do that). It will take time for Wahoo to change the market’s fundamentals further. How much time does Wahoo have?
Garmin’s position in running is strong but its dominant share in the mainstream running market will likely continue to decline as the Apple Watch ascends. Of course, for more serious runners, triathletes and adventurers the story is DIFFERENT.
With running watches, Garmin has more of a problem. Its mainstream market share will be hit by competition from Apple and Chinese players like Coros and Amazfit. Of course, Apple will continue gaining traction in hardware sales due to its pseudo-monopolistic position in the iOS space for SMART watch features. Coros, Amazfit and others will clear up in the mainstream running market if they get their pricing right – Amazfit appears to realise this with the pretty good T-Rex 3 (not a running watch per se, but illustrative). In contrast, Coros does not seem to be getting its price right… its products and ecosystem are good but not as good as Garmin’s when examined in detail, yet its pricing is becoming similar.
One final nugget. It finally seems that your racing frenemies have figured out the best shoes to beat you with…
the5krunner.com © 2010-2025
Reader-Powered Content
This content is not sponsored. It’s mostly me behind the labour of love, which is this site, and I appreciate everyone who follows, subscribes or Buys Me A Coffee ❤️ Alternatively, please buy the reviewed product from my partners. Thank you! FTC: Affiliate Disclosure: Links pay commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Apple Watch is might as well say forerunner or Fenix as surely it’s the same and not a single model
yes the stats are not exactly clear
Comparing “Apple Watch Series (presumably including Series 1 through 10, probably excludes Ultra)” to “Garmin Forerunner 245” is silly. That would be like comparing the entire Garmin line to Apple Watch 8.
yes the stats are not exactly clear
The stats may be wrong to some extent but the numbers generally dont lie.
I am a runner since 2009 – And I have have more than 8 difference garmin watches in my box og used gear (+ 2 Polar and 1 Suunto).
I have done almost 200 marathons and when I look around my peers that are as “crazy” as me with loads of Cannonball – then, Garmin wins every single day. Probably 8 out of 10 with a Garmin watch, and perhaps 2 out 100 with an Apple device (number is higher at the 5K Parkruns).
That doesn’t mean that Garmin does not have a “problem”. There are several:
1) To many different devices from garmin!
2) No clear strategy (which devices to choose for what type of athlete).
3) FWs are mostly – half baked (The new saying 😀 ). There are simply to many issues. My FR 955 is still quite buggy despite it is more than 2 years old – and it is holding me back buying a new model.
4) Simplicity is a problem for Garmin. To many users are having syncronizing problems to the garmin eco-system. Connect is a pretty cool tool though.
Garmins luck is that the other brands are worse.
Apple are VERY good with both the eco-system and quality of the product.. I do hope that Garmin sleeps with its eyes open.
Hi,
I like your comment
1) To many different devices from garmin!
==> a flood of models !!!
2) No clear strategy (which devices to choose for what type of athlete).
==> because too many models, without a clear difference explained, a nightmare to choose which one is the right
3) FWs are mostly – half baked (The new saying 😀 ). There are simply to many issues. My FR 955 is still quite buggy despite it is more than 2 years old – and it is holding me back buying a new model.
==> when you look at Fenix 8, already 160 bug fix, and the product is 3 months old, i can’t imagine spending 1000€ for that. This explain why our older device F7 and FRx55/x65 are always buggy. And we share the same components with this older line and the new F8 …
4) Simplicity is a problem for Garmin. To many users are having syncronizing problems to the garmin eco-system. Connect is a pretty cool tool though.
==> i can’t comment, i never encounter issues since years and 3 different models of Garmin. But in terms of software applicatin and OS on watch –> i can say that it’s difficult to find the right option to do something
I’ll add my 2c as well, and of course, I broadly agree.
No clear strategy: I strongly suspect that Garmin believes it has a clear strategy and that its products are aligned with how it defines the market. Perhaps their mistake is assuming that every one of its potential buyers has the same perfect view of the market…they don’t.
==> when you look at Fenix 8, already 160 bug fix,
I guess we never know how many bug fixes other companies have made. Even Garmin does not disclose all the bugs it fixes.
I needed a new watch in 2024 as my FR945 LTE battery would only last 2 hours with GPS activity. I was waiting for a Fenix with LTE but my event was coming, I thought I would try an Apple Watch Ultra 2 as this has the modem inside it. (F8 with LTE never arrived)…
I was shocked at how half baked the Apple Fitness Eco system is. Garmin Connect, despite some UX issues, is lightyears ahead of Apple Fitness/Heath. I had to buy another app for the Apple watch as I wanted routes and maps for running. Getting routes on involved moving files into iCloud and using a separate companion app to load 🤦🏻♂️. It’s a joke for cycling with a power meter. Swimming is ok. I think DC rainmaker is bit easy on them if I’m honest given how limited it is. I don’t know way anyone beyond a very casual runner would use one as fitness device.
However, AW is fantastic wrist worn iPhone, I can’t argue with that.
I also coach a few people and it’s a nightmare sending workout from Training Peaks to Apple Watch and trying to get users to follow them. It’s just so much easier on a Garmin.
Apple is moving forwards but Garmin can keep outpacing for the next 3-5 years I feel. Eventually, without a big tech breakthrough, they will all reach parity at some point.
2 hour battery – yikes!
apple and garmin’s target markets are very different…as you found! I think DCR is fair on his take with Apple.
apple will not be inclined to add too much atheltic richness to its branded ecosystem (others will do that) but even if they wanted to they would be restricted by their UI standards. You mentioned the power meter side of things…look at how ugly that peripheral area of the device is. apple just couldn’t have that sort of look all over the watch
The statistics have a problem, here Garmin watches are probably tracked as models themselves, while Apple Watch only appears as a series. It would also be interesting here to have overarching company statistics such as Garmin, Apple, Suunto, Polar etc..
yes
I asked Strava for more detail and they were either unwilling or unable to supply it or clarity further than to say that the Apple Watch and SE entries included all models (not ultra)
“…asked Strava for more detail and they were either unwilling or unable to supply it or clarity further”
isn’t it strange that Strava records the exact model type but during this once per year flashy news cycle, they are unable to aggregate and properly present this data? You could think they do this on purpose…
there must be some method to the madness.
For me, the interesting part is that apparently an older, mid-range watch is most used by runners who post on strava.
Who is buying the newer and/or more expensive models?
Who post on strava? Are those fanatic runners? Or runners on a tight budget? Or runners who are more interested in social than in hardcore running? Or runners who realize there is no such thing as a better than good enough watch?
So many questions…
(Do have to say, at my athletics club with quite fanatic runners and strava users, I see rather a lot older watches. Most garmin, but Apple is not far behind, and occasionally a Suunto or Polar.)
In the uk there are about 200,000 registered athletic club members (garmin owners predominate) and in the uk there have been about 2 million unique parkrun finishers (Apple…and Garmin). There might be 20,000 registered UK triathletes (Garmin) but 40,000 participants (Garmin, Apple ?) – and there might be 165,000 cycling club members according to British Cycling (Garmin), there might be 5-10x the number of British cycling members who own a bike computer (still a lot of garmin owners there)
that should give you an indication of the relative importance of serious athletes (Garmin) compared to mainstream fitness participants (Apple)
Strava:
estimates from the web => Strava UK, 15 million sometime users, globally supposedly over 135 million athletes. 3 million are subscribers, Strava’s subscriber base is estimated to be around 15% of its total users: I reckon it’s lower https://the5krunner.com/2022/05/25/strava-3-stories-plus-your-value-to-them-is-125/
Strava users would include most serious cyclists/runners (a relatively small number) but a larger number of non-serious people, who might even exercise regularly.
BACK OF A FAG PACKET ESTIMATES. don’t quote me. please (anyone) feel free to say why this is wrong but i’m just giving a simple guestimate to answer the comment.
who buys the expensive devices?
forerunner 955/965: triathletes and serious runners
fenix 8 @$1000: presumably only the people who go on 6-month expeditions to the arctic or Amazon. So that’s a market size of about 3 people. Clearly Garmin sells considerably more than that! so, to a large extent, Fenix 8 might be most commonly bought as a lifestyle purchase.
Sounds reasonable enough.
saw on my own data in Strava yearly reviews that Strava data can be seriously screwed even presented fancy it’s just simply rubbish from accuracy point of view.
But there is one other problem for Garmin here that the author doesn’t talk: Garmin is barely competing with an mid range model (235/245) button input against tlfull touch UI Apple watches, non of Garmin’s full touch enabled watches e.g. Venu, Vivoactive, Lily1&2, vivomove, Venu square, Venu2, Venu2+…. are even coming close to be a competition to the oldest Apple watch but the closest as Garmin gets is with a button UI watch. If I would working in Garmin product management, I would think about this seriously.
I do not post on Strava as Strata’s latest move prompted me to delete my account. You say for serious runners the stats are likely different. IDK if I am a serious runner but I run ultras, 50k to 200k and I prefer to train with my AWU. For races and ski mountaineering I wear a Suunto (don’t like Garmin) but the AWU with TrainingPeaks integration solved most of the issues for me. Better navigation is all I really need now. My longest with an AWU is 35h on the reduced GPS mode.
Statistics are like a bikini. You can choose what to hide and what to display. I own both an Apple Uitra as well as Garmin Epix Pro. I’ve not done a single serious activity using my Apple. It is a great activity tracker though.
yep, that’a new metaphor to me…but, hey, I’ll go with it!
Apple: probably a great ‘sport logger’ as well. somthing on your wrist just to gather the numbers on those long runs/rides where you’re not bothered about performance.