Consumers Shift from Basic Wearables to Smarter Devices

According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, wearable device shipments grew 1.2% during Q1 2018 as shipments reached 25.1 million. This growth was slower than the 18% year-over-year growth one year ago.

Consumer preferences continue to shift towards smarter wearable devices. The 9.2% decline in basic wearables shipments caused the slow Q1 growth. However, higher priced smart wearables like Apple Watch and Fitbit still grew 28.4%.

Health and fitness remain the key value proposition and watches and wristbands counted for 95% of these shipments.

Top 5 wearables companies in 2018:

• Apple
• Xiaomi
• Fitbit
• Huawei
• Garmin

However, there is room for other vendors to forge their own path into the wearables market, says Ramon T. Llamas, a research director for IDC’s Wearables team.

What to look out for:

• Hearables that feature coaching, audio modification, and language translation
• Other wrist-worn devices for personal safety
• Connected watches for children
• Sensor clothing (which grew 58.6% year-over-year in Q1)