Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed ‘record’ sales of the Apple Watch in the early weeks of Christmas shopping, following the release of an IDC study reporting a 71 per cent year-on-year fall in sales.

In a response to Reuters, Cook said consumer sales of the Apple Watch had reached a record high in the first week of ‘holiday shopping’ – which traditionally begins on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the US. He then forecast Q4 would be the most successful yet for the product.

The comments follow the publication of IDC’s latest wearables market tracker, which stated Apple had sold 1.1 million wearable devices during Q3, down from 3.9 million in Q3 2015. It also estimated Apple’s wearables market share at 4.9 per cent by the end of September compared to 17.5 per cent at the same time last year.

Wearable sales continue to be led by Fitbit, which IDC estimates held a 23 per cent market share, followed by Xiaomi (16.5 per cent) and Garmin (5.7 per cent), as of the end of Q3.

IDC attributed the fall in Apple sales to “an aging line-up and an unintuitive user interface,” in addition to the new version of the Watch not being launched until close to the end of the quarter.

The report added that although these issues had been addressed by the release of the latest generation of the device, “Apple’s success will likely be muted as the smartwatch category continues to be challenged”.