According to the “Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker” developed by the company IDC, the boost of the wearable market will lead to a growth of this technology, from 113.2 million units in 2017 to 222.3 million in 2021.
On the other hand, according to Canalys, Apple was a leader during the third quarter of 2017, reaching 3.9 million devices, closely followed by Xiaomi and Fitbit.
The wearables market will reach 222.3 million units by 2021
The wearables market is taking hold. The growth of this IDC technology expects to reach around 113.2 million units to 222.3 million this year in 2021. The wearables market will increase by nearly 50% in the coming years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.4%.
According to the company, basic bracelets like Xiaomi Mi Band and Fitbit Charge will not experience great growth. In contrast, both basic and smart watches will grow in a striking way, from 61.5 million in 2017 to 149.5 million in 2021, thanks in particular to the supplier fashion brands and the connectivity with smartphones.
“The move from wristbands to watches presents additional revenue opportunities for sellers and dealers as average selling prices are expected to rise,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research analyst at IDC Mobile Device Trackers. “However, the struggle to go beyond health and fitness persists and convincing consumers to spend more on services that may not be immediately obvious will be a challenge. This is where avant-garde brands have the opportunity to shine as their customer base does not tend to prioritize features.”
According to Ramón T. Llamas, research manager of the Wearables team of IDC, tomorrow’s wearables will be characterized by having more complete and multifunctional functions, not only in the field of health, but will also improve in communication and Productivity.
“In addition, users can expect a wider range of devices in the future,” Llamas added. “These will not necessarily replace the wearables we have today, but other products we use regularly. Traditional headphones will give way to smart earwear that feature fitness tracking, audio augmentation or personal assistants. will be smarter with health and fitness tracking, especially for professional athletes.”
Smartwatches will experience great growth
Of the types of wearables that exist, the ones that stand out most for their high accessibility – especially in emerging markets – are the fitness bands or Basic Wirstbands, since they are simple and low cost. But, according to IDC, it will lose importance in the coming years even though 39.8% of the users possessed this type of wearable. By 2021 Basic Wirstbands will decrease%by 21.5%. One of the reasons his popularity will drop is because Basic Watches will gain ground. These wearables arguably are the evolution of the previous ones, with a better design and more fashion brands turned on them, in addition, it has more exclusive customers and a better distribution network than the previous ones. On the other hand, smartwatches, with Apple Watch at the forefront will reach 71.5 million units by 2021, while this year will reach 31.6 million. This type of wearable includes many features that justify its growth, among them in addition to the connectivity to the smartphone, SKU related to fashion brands, geolocation and the possibility to host games for children and applications that allow by example contacting friends and family. The latter has prompted the creation of a range of children’s watches sweeping china. On the other hand, Earwear – excluding traditional Bluetooth headphones – that is, those wireless headphones that offer functions such as fitness tracking will grow with a CAGR of 58.5 reaching 10.6 million units by the end of 2021. Established players like Bose and Jabra, as well as new ones as is the case of Bragi and Nuheara according to IDC will boost the growth of this category, but, the increase of these wearables would be definitive if the smartphones start to eliminate the headphone jack. The rest of the wearables will experience a small growth, probably from 2.7 million this year to 3 million by 2021.
Connected clothing won’t be popular enough despite innovation
As for wearables related to clothing will not get as much popularity as watches and bracelets, despite some products such as the one developed by Google and Levi’s: Levi’s Commuter Jacket. With levi’s jacket and thanks to the left fist fabric, the user is able to control the smartphone via bluetooth. And, for example, use apps like Spotify or iTunes, answer calls, make inquiries about the time or an address, and the jacket can send notifications to the user.
“We are thinking of Jacquard as a digital platform that will eventually have more functions and although it is now a jacket, in the future [the fabric] could be in jeans, shoes or bags,” explained Ivan Poupyrev, engineering director for the Technology and Google Advanced Projects (ATAP) in an interview. “We will continue to work with clothing brands because they do know their consumers.”
Another innovation within clothing-related wearables is Ford’s “SafeCap”. Although it is currently only a prototype, it is designed to prevent drivers from falling asleep at the wheel. The wearable is able to detect a person’s pitch when they start falling asleep, and before this performs different activities to wake the driver: it vibrates, emits an LED light that points to the driver’s eyes and sounds an alarm. The company that made this wearable specially designed for truckers has not given details about its commercialization. Although research is being done on these wearables, according to IDC the factors derived from their high price and limited use complicates their popularity.
Apple is the leader in smartwatch
Canalys has analyzed the wearables market during the last quarter of 2017. Apple has been a leader, reaching 3.9 million devices, thanks to its Apple Watch Series 3, whose demand outperformed supply, so availability was limited in major markets.
“Strong demand for LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 has dispelled service providers’ doubts that the smartphone smartwatch is not attractive to customers,” Canalys analyst Jason Low said.
Followed by Apple are Xiaomi which reached 3.6 million devices and Fitbit the 3.5 million fitness bands. For these three companies the third quarter of 2017 has been positive, especially for Apple being the best of the year. However, not all products have been sold equally, making smartwatches more popular, while basic bands have resulted%in an overall market decline of a 2%. In addition, it has been seen that important smartphone providers have decided to launch wearable devices that are compatible with their smartphones. This is being done by market leader Apple, Samsung and Huawei. According to Canalys, Smart Watches enhance the overall brand image of smartphones looking to enter the premium segment.
“While health functions remain the main focus, suppliers strive to increase the value of smartwatches by prioritizing design and highlighting key features,” said Canalys research analyst Mo Jia. “Apple and Samsung are increasing user adherence and brand loyalty by adopting an ecosystem strategy, including different wearables. Smartphone providers must re-evaluate their respective smartwatch strategies to gain more value beyond smartphone growth.”
According to Canalys reports, the fourth quarter is this year will be vital in assessing consumer acceptance of smartwatches. In addition, sellers expect a positive fourth quarter thanks to this trend, especially those wearables dedicated to health monitoring. In addition, suppliers are working to improve battery life and take care of the design.
“Google must show a greater commitment to help Android Wear providers, who are mostly watchmakers and fashion brands, further improve the user experience and app ecosystem. Otherwise, the market will see further consolidation, as vendors like Apple, Samsung and Fitbit dominate with their surveillance software platforms,” Low added.
Fitbit, the most widely used in healthcare research
According to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), Fitbit is the most widely used wearable brand in health research worldwide.
In fact, it has recently been selected as the first wearables brand for the “All of Us Research Program” of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The program is research that seeks to extend precision medicine to all diseases by building a national research cohort of one million or more participants in the U.S. based on individual characteristics.
“Most of what researchers know is based on intermittent snapshots of health in an artificial or personal memory-based environment,” said Steven Steinhubl, MD, Cardiologist and Director of Digital Medicine at STSI. “Through this research program, we will have access to comprehensive activity, heart rate and sleep data that can help us better understand the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes and what that means to individually.”
A representative sample within the study, TSRI will provide Fitbit Charge 2 and Fitbit Alta HR for one year to collect data showing the relationship between health indicators. At least 10,000 devices will be distributed to collect a dataset that will be contrasted with critical program health outcomes, such as heart rate and sleep data collected by Fitbit.
“Selected Fitbit devices track a combination of physical activity, sleep, and heart rate parameters,” said Eric Topol, Founder and Director of STSI. “Fitbit’s popularity among millions of Americans, combined with its ease of use, including multi-day battery and extensive smartphone compatibility, made Fitbit a natural choice for this pilot program.”
Thanks to these tools and the data collected, researchers will learn more about how each individual’s individual differences, along with their lifestyle, environment, and of course their genetic characteristics can trigger in a state of health or illness.
“As part of the global shift toward precision medicine, wearable data has the potential to inform highly personalized health care,” said Adam Pellegrini, General Manager, Fitbit Health Solutions. “Through this initiative, data can help us better understand how individualization can help prevent and treat the disease.”
