[March 20, 2017]

Wristwear Dominates the Wearables Market While Clothing and Earwear Have Market-Beating Growth by 2021, According to IDC

The overall wearables market is expected to return to strong growth after a brief slowdown in 2016 that resulted from delayed launches of major platforms and notable vendors struggling to maintain pace. Looking ahead, new vendors, emerging form factors, and an expanded number of retail outlets will drive worldwide wearable device shipments from 102.4 million in 2016 to 237.5 million in 2021, a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3%, according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker.

"With the shift towards watches and clothing, the need of a fashionable design will take center stage," said Jitesh Ubrani senior research analyst for IDC (News - Alert) Mobile Device Trackers. "Tech companies will be forced to step up their game and offer a wider selection of sizes, materials, and designs in order to appeal to a broader audience. We also expect more tech vendors to partner with fashion brands for their creativity, and equally important, their distribution network. In doing so, wearables will be made available to a previously unaware auidence - one that frequents fashion outlets over tech outlets."

Earworn devices are also poised for growth as new startups bring their innovative technology to the table and traditional headphone companies incorporate additional capabilities beyond audio. Though growth is expected, volumes will remain somewhat modest as the primary features of health and fitness tracking "hearables" overlap with the more popular wrist worn devices.

In addition to the growth opportunity for these products, it is important to note the diversity of options within each category. "Watches struggled as mass market devices due to limited and unclear value proposition to a broad base of potential users," noted Ramon T. Llamas, research manager for IDC's Wearables team. "Most potential customers saw watches performing multiple functions, but none of them worked exceptionally well to accomplish a myriad of tasks. Going forward, we instead expect watches to hyper-segment into specific niches, including connected kids' watches, athletic watches, luxury and fashion watches, and lifestyle watches that better address different segment needs, whether they be communication, health and fitness, or as smart luxury and fashion timepieces. Not all of them will have the same features, but they will have enough - and the rights ones - to do the job."

The same approach can be applied to emerging products. Llamas added, "Clothing, for example, can be designed to track athletic performance or to track vital information and communicate with workers - like first responders heading into dangerous situations. Similarly, companies are augmenting earwear with fitness tracking and smart coaching, while others are focusing on enhancing audio or providing real-time language translation. In both cases, the wearable is not taking a one-size fits all approach, and instead concentrates on specific solutions for specific use cases."

* Forecast data.

In addition to the table above, an interactive graphic showing worldwide wearable shipments and average selling price (ASP) for both emerging and developed markets over the five-year forecast period is available here. The chart is intended for public use in online news articles and social media. Instructions on how to embed this graphic can be found by viewing this press release on IDC.com.

About IDC Trackers
IDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC's Trackers are updated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Tracker results are delivered to clients in user-friendly excel deliverables and on-line query tools.

For more information about IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone (News - Alert) Tracker, please contact Kathy Nagamine at 650-350-6423 or [email protected].

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter (News - Alert) at @IDC.

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View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170320005241/en/

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