Worldwide wearable market to increase 44% in 2016 from this year, new research suggests

The worldwide wearable device market will reach a total of 111.1 million units shipped in 2016, up a strong 44.4% from the 80 million units expected to ship in 2015, according to International Data Corporation (IDC), a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.

IDC said in a statement on Thursday that by 2019, the final year of their forecast, total shipments will reach 214.6 million units, resulting in a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28%. Wearables will see continued growth as second- and third-generation iterations reach the market, building upon the hardware and software of their predecessors and answering some of the shortcomings and concerns that potential customers have today.

“The most common type of wearables today are fairly basic, like fitness trackers, but over the next few years we expect a proliferation of form factors and device types,” said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. “Smarter clothing, eyewear, and even hearables (ear-worn devices) are all in their early stages of mass adoption. Though at present these may not be significantly smarter than their analog counterparts, the next generation of wearables are on track to offer vastly improved experiences and perhaps even augment human abilities.”

One of the most popular types of wearables will be smartwatches, reaching a total of 34.3 million units shipped in 2016, up from the 21.3 million units expected to ship in 2015, IDC reported. By 2019, total shipments will reach 88.3 million units, resulting in a five-year CAGR of 42.8%.

“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,” noted Ramon Llamas, research manager for IDC’s Wearables team. “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.”

Llamas said that smartwatch platforms will lead the evolution. “As the brains of the smartwatch, platforms manage all the tasks and processes, not the least of which are interacting with the user, running all of the applications, and connecting with the smartphone. Once that third element is replaced with cellular connectivity, the first two elements will take on greater roles to make sense of all the data and connections.”

Apple’s watchOS will lead the smartwatch market throughout IDC’s forecast, with a loyal fanbase of Apple product owners and a rapidly growing application selection, including both native apps and watch-designed apps, IDC said. In 2015, watchOS had 61.3% of the market share, about four times the market share of Android Wear at 15.2%.