Global wearable devices sales to grow 18.4% in 2016: Gartner

• Sales of smartwatches to total 50.4mil units in 2016
• Fitness trackers major driver, but watch for enterprise use too

 
GARTNER Inc expects 274.6 million wearable electronic devices will be sold worldwide in 2016, an increase of 18.4% from the 232 million units in 2015.
 
Sales of wearable electronic devices will generate revenue of US$28.7 billion in 2016. Of that, US$11.5 billion will be from smartwatches, the research and analyst firm said in a statement.
 
“From 2015 through 2017, smartwatch adoption will have 30% growth largely due to Apple popularising wearables as a lifestyle trend,” said Gartner research director Angela McIntyre.
 
“Smartwatches have the greatest revenue potential among all wearables through 2019, reaching US$17.5 billion.
 
“Though the sales of smartwatches are the one of the strongest types of wearables, their adoption will remain much below sales of smartphones.
 
“For example, in 2016 more than 374 million smartphones will sell in mature market countries and in large urban areas of emerging market countries, for example, in Hong Kong and Singapore,” she added.
 

 

Fitness wearables – which include wristbands, smart garments, chest straps, sports watches and other fitness monitors – continue to increase in popularity, driven in some part by US wellness programmes.
 
“Of all the fitness wearables, sports watches will be the one product category to maintain its average retail price over the next several years,” McIntyre (pic) said.
 
“Race runners, cyclists and divers will choose sports watches over smartwatches because the user interface, capabilities and durability are tailored to the needs of an athlete in their sport.
 
“Continued advances in sensors and analytics for sports watches will bring new capabilities that bolster average retail prices,” she added.
 
Although the size of the worldwide wristband market was on par with the unit sales of smartwatches in 2015, looking forward, smartwatches will have stronger appeal with consumers as they typically have more multifunctional devices that can track exercise, Gartner said.
 
Wristband providers are experimenting with how to compete with smartwatches and take market share from the market leader, Fitbit (main picture above).
 
Examples of emerging value propositions for wristbands beyond fitness include mobile payments, access, safety, wellness and health.
 
Head-mounted displays (HMDs) are an emerging market with origins as expensive military projects, and in 2016 the HMD market will progress toward mainstream adoption for consumers and enterprise use.
 
“New virtual reality HMDs for consumers, such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Sony PlayStation VR, and Microsoft HoloLens are expected to be available along with video games and entertainment content as well as business applications critical for their success,” said Gartner research director Brian Blau.
 
“Film producers and sports leagues will augment their traditional content through HMDs to enhance their customer experiences by creating interactive attractions, movies, and sporting events that make the content more personal and meaningful,” he added.
 
Enterprise use of HMDs will also grow in the coming years with 26% of HMDs designed for business use in 2018.
 
HMDs will be purchased by businesses for use by employees for tasks such as equipment repair, inspections and maintenance. Workers also will use HMDs for viewing instructions and directions hands free while they are performing a task.
 
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