The worldwide wearables market is expected to ship 72.1 million wearable devices in 2015, up a strong 173.3% from the 26.4 million units shipped in 2014, as per a latest forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC).
The research firm predicts that shipment volumes will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.6% over the five-year forecast period, reaching 155.7 million units shipped in 2019. The smart wearable devices will report 33.1% YoY growth in 2015 up from 4.2% in 2014.
“The demand for basic wearables, those that do not run third party apps, has been absolutely astounding. Vendors like Fitbit and Xiaomi have helped propel the market with their sub-$100 bands, and IDC expects this momentum will continue throughout 2015. We expect smart wearables, those capable of running third party apps, to take the lead in 2016. Smart wearables like the Apple Watch and Micosoft’s Hololens are indicative of an upcoming change in computing, and the transition from basic to smart wearables opens up a slew of opportunities for vendors, app developers, and accessory makers.”
said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst, Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.
Earlier this month IDC revealed that vendors shipped a total of 11.4 million wearables in 1Q15, a 200% increase from the 3.8 million wearables shipped in Q1, 2014. Xiaomi took the second spot with 2.8 million units shipped in Q1 2015 and a market share of 24.6 percent just after FitBit.
“Growth in the smart wearables market points to an emerging battleground among competing platforms. Android Wear, Tizen, and WatchOS are moving ahead with improved user interfaces, user experiences, and applications. These will raise the expectations of what a smart wearable can do, and each platform is vying for best-in-class status. We’re not there yet, but we’re seeing the building blocks of what is to come.”
said Ramon Llamas, research manager, Wearables.