'Vastly improved' wearables to see market skyrocket

Wearables market to grow by almost half year on year in 2016

The market for wearable technology is set to boom next year as "vastly improved" offerings replace the current "basic" devices, claims IDC.

The analyst claims that next year, the wearable device market will reach a total of 111.1 million units shipped, up 44.4 per cent from the 80 million figure expected this year. By 2019, total shipments will reach 214.6 million units, representing a five-year compound annual growth rate of 28 per cent.

Earlier on this week, CRN reported that wearable technology was described as one of the biggest flops of 2015 by a number of channel execs.

IDC said that the most common wearables on the market today are "fairly basic", such as fitness trackers. But it said this is set for big change in the coming years.

"Smarter clothing, eyewear, and even hearables (ear-worn devices) are all in their early stages of mass adoption," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC. "Though at present these may not be significantly smarter than their analogue counterparts, the next generation of wearables are on track to offer vastly improved experiences and perhaps even augment human abilities."

A number of more sophisticated wearable devices may be on the horizon, but the most popular device for 2016 is predicted to be the smartwatch. Some 34.3 million units will be shipped, up from 21.3 million which are expected to be shipped by the end of 2015. By 2019, the number of smartwatches shipped will reach 88.3 million.

IDC said that the smartwatches of the future will be very different to today's.

"In a short amount of time, smartwatches have evolved from being extensions of the smartphone to wearable computers capable of communications, notifications, applications, and numerous other functionalities," said IDC research manager Ramon Llamas.

"The smartwatch we have today will look nothing like the smartwatch we will see in the future. Cellular connectivity, health sensors, not to mention the explosive third-party application market all stand to change the game and will raise both the appeal and value of the market going forward."