In a new report shared with Reuters, Slice Intelligence estimates that Apple has sold 2.79 million Apple Watches in the U.S. since the new wearable went on sale in April. The company’s research also revealed that 17 percent of initial Apple Watch buyers purchase an additional Apple-made band, increasing Apple’s profit margin on each purchase.

Slice gleaned this data from analyzing email receipts from two million online shoppers in the U.S., including an estimated 20, 000 consumers who actually bought an Apple Watch.

An earlier study by Slice suggested that Apple sold nearly one million Apple Watches in the U.S. on the first day it went on sale.

According to Slice’s latest data, the most popular second-band choice is the $49 black Sport band, followed by the $149 Milanese loop.

Citing a manufacturing cost analysis by technology research firm IHS, Reuters went on to highlight how profitable it is for Apple to sell an extra $49 band – a 38 millimeter Sport band, found IHS, costs Apple $2.05 to manufacture.

By IHS’s own admittance, that number does not factor in all the cost factors involved:

The estimates do not include expenses such as packaging and shipping and may not capture the full cost of the material Apple uses to make the band, said analyst Kevin Keller of IHS.

During the company’s last earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he had not seen a cost estimate “that is anywhere close to being accurate.”

Cost estimates by third-parties typically don not include logistics, capital, overhead, research and development, software, intellectual property and other supply chain costs as those numbers fluctuate vastly or are closely guarded by companies.

Apple has not released Apple Watch sales numbers, but “the response to Apple Watch has surpassed our [Apple’s] expectations in every way,” according to Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice president of Operations.

While we may not know the exact sales numbers yet, sales of Apple’s first wearable will likely be boosted in the coming weeks when the Apple Watch goes on sale in seven additional countries next week and by the recent launch of retail store sales in addition to online sales.

Sales numbers are likely to continue to climb once Apple rolls out watchOS 2 in the fall – the software update enables native apps on the wearable, a change that is set to bring faster and better apps designed specifically for Apple Watch.

Earlier this month, Apple unveiled a new version of the smartwatch’s operating system, WatchOS, with improvements including apps that run natively on the device and more customization options. The operating system update is launching in the fall.

photo credit: Apple Watch Launch via photopin (license)