Smart wearables feature more health and safety applications | Global Sources
by Melanie Victoriano (Content Editor)
Image source: Getty
Wearable technology or smart wearables – including smart watches, smart bracelets, and earphones – are rising in popularity and significant revenue growth is forecast for the sector.
Consumers are primarily adopting these electronic devices for sports, fitness tracking and health monitoring, but there is increasing penetration of smart wearables alongside the expansion of their applications in areas like telemedicine, navigation, infotainment and communication. Some industry observers, including Market Research Future (MRF), are even predicting that smart wearables may replace smartphones in the near future.
Smart wearables have been growing at a fast pace in recent years. Total global wearable device shipments in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone hit a record high of 171 million units, a 10.8 percent increase over the same period in 2020, according to research by the International Data Corporation (IDC). Shipments for the entire 2021 totaled 533.6 million units, a 20 percent rise compared with 2020, IDC added.
Looking at consumer spending patterns on wearables since 2019, smart watches and earphones, such as true wireless earphones (TWS), seem to show the most remarkable growth. From 2019 to 2022, spending on smart watches grew from $18.5 billion to $31.33 billion and that on earphones from $14.58 billion to $44.16 billion.
According to Global Sources’ exclusive analysis team, the most searched products and keywords related to smart wearables shows a strong demand for TWS earbuds, smart watches, smart bracelets, and smart bands. Many of the trending keywords are related to Apple products. Apple is among key companies in the wearable devices market, shipping 34 percent of wearables in 2020.
Product trends: Health monitoring and safety features
Smart watches
Smart watches are expected to continuously lead the wearable device market and be the main product driving sales growth for the sector.
In 2020, smart watch end-user spending reached $21.75 billion, and this number is expected to increase to $31.34 billion in 2022. As new processor technologies and improvements to solid-state batteries increase battery life, smart watches are bound to attract more new users, which will further drive product sales.
Nearly 60 percent of smart watches are designed with functions to monitor heart rate, incidence of falls, and blood oxygen saturation levels. These functions will become common features of most smart wearables in the future especially since recent consumer studies show that smart wearables incentivize health-seeking behavior. A report by Insider Intelligence states that 75 percent of users of smart wearables say that the devices help them keep track of their health.
The development of biosensor technologies such as electrocardiogram capability for smart watches, will make health data from these devices invaluable as a reference for doctors’ diagnoses in the coming years.
In addition to health monitoring functions, smart watch design now also includes mobile phone features such as making calls and location tracking. These features are particularly helpful for parents and guardians who are concerned for the safety of children and the elderly.
Smart bracelets
In addition to basic functions such as sports and fitness monitoring, an increasing number of smart bracelets are being designed for different market segments such as the elderly and female groups. Among popular features are those for health management, beauty care, and life services. Consumers who opt for smart bracelets cite stylish design, versatility, water-resistance, and long battery life as among their key considerations when purchasing these devices.
TWS earbuds
Another category of smart wearables comprises so-called “hearables,” which includes TWS earbuds. Health monitoring capabilities, hearing aid functions, and bone conduction applications are new functional directions that developed rapidly in TWS earphones in recent years, thereby enriching product features and improving user experience.
