Sales of the Apple Watch to consumers set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters.
"Our data shows that Apple Watch is doing great and looks to be one of the most popular holiday gifts this year," Cook wrote in an email.
"Sales growth is off the charts. In fact, during the first week of holiday shopping, our sell-through of Apple Watch was greater than any week in the product's history. And as we expected, we're on track for the best quarter ever for Apple Watch," he said.
Cook's comments followed a report on Monday from technology research firm IDC estimating that the tech giant sold 1.1 million units of the Apple Watch during the third quarter of 2016, down 71 percent from the year-ago quarter. The comments offer a glimpse of the gadget's performance during the holiday quarter, which is typically Apple's strongest.
Related: Why Apple Watch Sales Are Down
The CEO did not immediately respond to a request for specific sales figures for the gadget.
Apple has disclosed few details about the performance of the Apple Watch, its first new product released under Cook. The company has not broken out sales of the gadget in its earnings, instead lumping it into an "other products" category that includes devices such as the iPod and Apple TV.