Smart wearables are becoming the main drivers of the overall wearables market. Today, these smart wearables only count for about one third of the market where basic wearables account for the rest.
The leading category of these basic wearables are fitness trackers. The main category of smart wearables on the other hand will be smart wristwear, including watches and band, which are capable of running third-party applications in the consumer Internet of Things.
That is what research company IDC says in its forecast of worldwide wearable shipments.
Smart wristwear: evolutions in the fastest growing segment of the wearable market
According to the press release from IDC, these worldwide wearable shipments will reach 173.4 million units by 2019. In 2015 76.1 million units are shipped.
Among smart wristwear, which is poised to be the main driver of the wearables and smart wearables market are Apple Watch, Motorola’s Moto 360, the Samsung Gear S-series (see picture Samsung Gear S2 above) and Pebble’s Time.
IDC advices consumers to pay attention to the various operating systems that power smart wristwear.
Until now most smart wearables are mainly accessories with smartphones but the next generations have more applications and are more evolving into smarter devices which means they have more computing capabilities and more applications are possible but it is important to think about the operating system and the ecosystem that fits your needs best.
