Smartwatches to Account for Nearly Half of Wearables Market by 2022: IDC

According to the latest estimates by market researcher IDC, smartwatches are set to dominate nearly half of the entire wearables market by 2022.

Smartwatches will account for a total of 46.2 million units in 2018, up by 38.9 percent from last year. However, by 2022, the volumes will grow at a CAGR of 19.5 percent to hit 94.3 million units milestone, accounting for nearly half of the entire wearables market.

Apple Watch is expected to continue to dominate with the newest model appealing to cardiac patients following the approval from the FDA and AHA.

The latest report also indicates that wristbands will continue to play a significant role in the wearables market with devices going beyond step counting having an advantage against the pricier smartwatches.

Lastly, earwear is set to be the fastest growing wearable device. The devices which offer features in addition to audio will be seeing more growth. It is also predicted that future earwear might come with built-in smart assistants, in addition to real-time language translation and fitness tracking and coaching. Earwear is expected to hit 12.3 million shipments by 2022.

IDC last month reported that Apple dominated the global wearables market in the second quarter of 2018 with a total share of 17 percent as the market ticked up 5.5 percent.

Cupertino-based Apple maintained its top position in the wake of continued demand for its LTE-enabled Watch and shipped 4.7 million units, followed by Chinese player Xiaomi that shipped 4.2 million devices and grabbed a market share of 15.1 percent. The overall shipment volume reached 27.9 million units and the market experienced similar gains in dollar value, growing 8.3 percent year-over-year (YoY) to $4.8 billion (roughly Rs. 3.45 lakh crores) in the second quarter. This was fuelled by the continued popularity of smartwatches with their high price tags.

Written with agency inputs