Wearables market worth $30bn with big changes to come

The wearables market will be worth over $30 billion globally in 2016, with over $11 billion of that coming from newly popular products like smartwatches and fitness trackers, according to analyst IDTechEx.

But despite the total market expected to grow to over $150 billion by 2026, said IDTechEx, it forecasts “shake-ups” in several prominent sectors, with commoditisation “hitting hard”, and product form factors “changing rapidly”.

The analyst measures wearables demand covering almost 40 product segments, including smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart eyewear, smart clothing, medical devices, headphones, hearing aids, basic electronic watches, smart skin patches, and others.

James Hayward, an analyst at IDTechEx, said: “Fuelled by a frenzy of hype, funding and global interest, wearable technology was catapulted to the top of the agenda for companies spanning the entire value chain and world.

“This investment manifested in hundreds of new products and extensive tailored R&D investigating relevant technology areas.

“However, the fickle nature of hype is beginning to show, and many companies are now progressing beyond discussing ‘wearables’ to focus on the detailed and varied sub-sectors.”

@AntonySavvas

Antony Savvas

York, UK-based Antony Savvas has been a technology journalist for 25 years and has expertise in all major areas of enterprise and consumer IT. He has worked for a number of leading technology magazines and websites and his work is syndicated across the internet. He also undertakes corporate work for some of the world's leading technology companies.