Worldwide Wearables Market Forecast to Maintain Double-Digit Growth in 2020 and Through 2024, According to IDC

Worldwide Wearables Market Forecast to Maintain Double-Digit Growth in 2020
and Through 2024, According to IDC

           FRAMINGHAM, Mass., September 25, 2020 – Global
           shipments of wearable devices are expected to total
           396.0 million units in 2020 according to new data from the
           International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly
           Wearable Device Tracker. This marks a 14.5% increase from
           the 345.9 million units shipped in 2019. Looking ahead, IDC
           forecasts shipment volume to have a five-year compound
           annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4% and total 637.1 million
           units in 2024.

           The first half of 2020 delivered positive results despite the
           impact of COVID-19 on the global economy. Even though
           vendors scaled down production and end users were
           quarantined, demand for wearables remained steady. The
           market was propelled by near-record demand for hearables,
           which was enough to offset slightly lower demand for watches
           and wristbands. The second half of 2020 is on pace to
           continue this trend and with the launch of new products –
           including hearables, watches, and wristbands – from multiple
           vendors, the wearables market is on track to reach nearly 400
           million units this year.

           Beyond devices, one trend to watch is the emergence
           of services to complement wearables. Apple's recently
           announced Fitness+, Amazon's new Halo, and Fitbit's Fitbit
           Premium connect users with health and fitness content
           (i.e., guided workouts, coaching, and diet advice) while
           incorporating data from their wearable device. Several other
           companies are taking a different route, showing enterprise
           customers how to keep their employees physically distant
           and detect early signs of potential illness. These services and
           others to come will increase the demand for wearables.

           "Wearable devices and services will evolve together in the
           coming quarters," said Ramon T. Llamas, research director,

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Mobile Devices and AR/VR.
"Wearables are the perfect device
to collect user data and services
provide guidance and actionable
insight. Together, they offer the
user a virtual coach to make better
decisions and achieve their goals."

"Device makers are also laying
the groundwork that will allow
consumers to use multiple
wearables in conjunction with
each other," said Jitesh Ubrani,
research manager for IDC Mobile
Device Trackers. "Imagine tying
positional and audio input from
hearables with health metrics from
the wrist to gauge a user's level
of attention or excitement in the
surrounding enviorment. That's a
powerful new experience that can
bring added utility to consumers
and vendors alike."

Category Highlights

Hearables* will account for the
majority of shipments throughout
the forecast while posting a
market beating CAGR of 14.1%.
A combination of drivers will
sustain hearable growth: an
expanding list of vendors with
a growing number of devices;
smartphones abandoning the
3.5mm headphone jack in
favor of Bluetooth connections;
lower prices; and an expansion
of use cases beyond audio
content consumption, like health
and fitness monitoring, smart
assistants, and connection to
home and work IoT systems.

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Watches**, comprised of
smartwatches and basic watches,
will experience the highest CAGR
at 14.3%. The smartwatch market
will see its operating system
(OS) landscape shift as Google's
WearOS acquires FitbitOS to
bolster its health and fitness
offerings and new vendor partners
are added to its list. Samsung's
Tizen will slowly gain share
with its own fitness-focused
and productivity-driven Galaxy
watches. At the top is Apple's
watchOS, which will benefit
from the introduction of its new
Watch SE, sitting between its
premium and entry-level devices.
Meanwhile, basic watches will
benefit from kids' connected
watches alongside hybrid- and
GPS-equipped watches.

Wristbands will slowly crawl
upward with shipments growing at
a CAGR of 2.4%. Even as average
selling prices dip below $40
USD by the end of the forecast,
there will still be space for more
expensive models whose feature
sets closely mimic those found
on smartwatches, including
mobile payments, smartphone
notifications, and advanced fitness
features. Still, the primary driver
for wristband shipments will be
inexpensive step- and calorie
counters.

Worldwide Wearables
Shipments, Market Share, and

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Five-Year CAGR, 2020 and 2024
                     (shipments in millions)
                     Product
                          2020 2020 2024 2024 2020-2024
                          Shipments
                               MarketShipments
                                          MarketCAGR
                               Share      Share
                     Hearables*
                          234.359.2%396.662.8%14.1%
                     Watch**
                          91.4 23.1%156.024.7%14.3%
                     Wrist 67.7 17.1%74.4 11.8%2.4%
                     Band
                     Others2.6   0.6% 4.8    0.8% 16.7%
                     Total 396.0100.0%
                                     631.7100.0%
                                               12.4%
                     Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly
                     Wearable Device Tracker,
                     September 2020

                    Taxonomy Notes:

                    * IDC defines Hearables as
                    wearables that hang on or plug
                    into the ear. The device must
                    operate wirelessly and provide
                    stereo sound while also including
                    at least one of the following
                    features:

•   Track health/fitness
•   Modify audio, and not just noise reduction
•   Provide language translation on the device
•   Enable smart assistants at the touch of a button or
    through hotword detection even if the assistant is
    running on another device such as a smartphone

                    ** The Watch category includes
                    both Basic Watches and
                    Smartwatches. Basic watches
                    incorporate a microprocessor, are
                    capable of digitally processing
                    data, and have wireless
                    connectivity, but do not run third-
                    party applications. Smartwatches
                    meet all four requirements.

                    About IDC Trackers

                                    - 4-

IDC Tracker products provide
accurate and timely market size,
vendor share, and forecasts
for hundreds of technology
markets from more than 100
countries around the globe. Using
proprietary tools and research
processes, IDC's Trackers
are updated on a semiannual,
quarterly, and monthly basis.
Tracker results are delivered
to clients in user-friendly Excel
deliverables and on-line query
tools. To see more of IDC's
worldwide wearables market data,
go to https://www.idc.com/promo/
wearablevendor.

Click here to learn about IDC's full
suite of data products and how you
can leverage them to grow your
business.

About IDC

International Data Corporation
(IDC) is the premier global
provider of market intelligence,
advisory services, and events
for the information technology,
telecommunications, and
consumer technology markets.
With more than 1,100 analysts
worldwide, IDC offers global,
regional, and local expertise
on technology and industry
opportunities and trends in over
110 countries. IDC's analysis and
insight helps IT professionals,
business executives, and the
investment community to make
fact-based technology decisions
and to achieve their key business

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objectives. Founded in 1964,
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For more information contact:
Michael Shirer
press@idc.com
508-935-4200
Jitesh Ubrani
jubrani@idc.com
416-873-0315
Ramon Llamas
rllamas@idc.com
508-935-4736

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