Image source: Fitbit

Smartwatches and heareables to fuel wearables growth in next 4 years

A new report from Gartner shows bullish projections for the wearables market, led by strong growth of smartwatches and heareables.

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Smartwatches have grown in popularity in recent years, aided significantly by the release of the Apple Watch on April 24, 2015. The device quickly became the best-selling wearable, shifting some 4.2 million units in the second quarter of the 2015 fiscal year. Since then, smartwatch sales have only gone from strength to strength.

New numbers from Gartner forecast a continuation of this growth. Led by the likes of Apple, Samsung, Garmin and relatively recent entrant Fitbit – the category is expected to more than double in the next four years, from 53 million units shipped in 2018 to 115 million units in 2022.

This growth will partially be fuelled by a fall in prices. Smartwatches are currently a fairly pricey purchase. However, this will start to change from 2019. We’ve already seen Fitbit undercut some of the competition with the $150 Versa, not to mention the swathe of Chinese manufacturers expanding internationally.

“At the moment, the smartwatch market is bolstered by the relatively stable and higher average selling price (ASP) of the Apple Watch,” said Alan Antin. senior director at Gartner.

“But the overall ASP of smartwatches is expected to slowly decline from $221.99 in 2018 to $210 in 2022, due to lower-priced competitors and as higher volumes lead to reductions in manufacturing and component costs, while strong brands like Apple and traditional watch brands try to keep pricing stable.”

Ear-worn devices, also known as heareables, are set for even stronger growth. Gartner predicts they’ll account for nearly one-third of the wearables market by 2022 to become the top selling segment. Their functionality will expand as they take over many tasks that users solve with the help of their smartphones today.

Overall, Gartner his predicting a 26% jump in wearables units shipped in 2019, up to 225 million from 179 million. This number is expected to more than double by 2022, to 453 million.

Source: Gartner

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Marko Maslakovic

Marko founded Gadgets & Wearables in 2014, having worked for more than 15 years in the City of London’s financial district. Since then, he has led the company’s charge to become a leading information source on health and fitness gadgets and wearables.

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