Wearable tech forecasts more growth despite challenges

It includes dedicated and detailed chapters covering each of the key product areas within this diverse space, including smartwatches and fitness trackers, AR, VR & MR, electronic skin patches, smart clothing, hearables (including headphones and hearing aids) and more.

The conclusions from the report find that wearable technology products are thriving, with a total market worth over $50bn in 2019, having more than doubled in size since just 2014. This historic growth is driven by product types including smartwatches, continuous glucose monitoring devices (CGM), hearing aids, headphones and AR, VR & MR. 

The report looks at each of these sectors in detail, providing assessments and market data across all the key players, technology, and current themes for each product area. In addition, there have been many new types of wearable technology product in this time, ranging from new types of electronic skin patch, to smart apparel based on electronic textiles, to other new form factors for devices from footwear, to rings, to headbands. In assessing 48 separate product types, the IDTechEx report is unique in its breadth of coverage across all wearable electronic products.

However, this growth comes despite many challenges across the product spectrum. At the top level, it is clear that ‘wearables’ as a term is now well past its period of hype that peaked in 2014-15. Many of the companies that had key products and messages during this time have disappeared or changed strategy over time. 

The success in smartwatches has not come from many of the early standard-bearers, but more prominently from Apple, followed by other consumer electronics players and sports electronics companies. In VR, AR and MR, some of the flagship products and companies have also failed, and despite significant growth in the industry (both in terms of percentage and in billions of dollars of new product revenue), the overall space is still far from breaking even on the huge investments that have poured in over the last decade.

This is the most detailed report that IDTechEx has ever produced in the field of wearable technology. IDTechEx analysts have been covering the topic for over a decade, with a dedicated set of wearable technology reports for the last five years. 

During this time, the team has had the opportunity to meet players throughout the world, spanning the entire value chain, and throughout various stages of the development cycles for these products. This time has seen companies rise and fall, hype shift from sector to sector, and product trends to develop and shift significantly.

The report addresses the broad nature that comes with the term "wearables" by addressing each sub-sector within this space in a dedicated chapter. These chapters have been developed as individual, complete research reports covering each of these sectors in the space. 

Using this huge body of work, ‘Wearable Technology Forecasts 2019-2029’ summarises the latest and critical information about these sectors into individual chapters, complete with key player profiles, commentaries on industry trends (e.g. with funding, IP, and company activities), and providing full forecast data for each.