According to a new report from Berg Insight, sales of smart glasses, smart watches and wearable fitness trackers reached 8.3 million units worldwide in 2012, up from 3.1 million devices in the previous year. Growing at a CAGR of 50.6%, total shipments of these products are expected to reach 64 million units in 2017.
At the moment, wearable fitness and activity trackers constitute the vast majority of the shipments, but by the end of the forecast period, they will be overtaken by smart watches which will emerge as the largest wearable device segment.
“A perfect storm of innovation within low power wireless connectivity, sensor technology, big data, cloud services, voice user interfaces and mobile computing power is coming together and paves the way for connected wearable technology,” said Johan Svanberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “However, today’s devices need to evolve into something more than single purpose fitness trackers or external smartphone notification centres in order to be truly successful.”
Berg Insight predicts that wearable technology will shift from being smartphone accessories into becoming proper stand-alone computing devices. Plus their closeness to the body and always aware capabilities will enable them to be more than merely miniaturized smartphones.