Will Wearable Tech Ever Become Mainstream?

On April 12 six years ago Pebble started its first Kickstarter crowdfunding round to raise cash for its innovative smartwatch, the Pebble. The watch had a 1.26″ screen, a vibrating motor, a magnetometer, light sensors, an accelerometer, and it was capable of communicating both with Android and iOS-powered devices via Bluetooth. The Pebble was an unexpected success, selling more than 1 million units and pushing wearable devices toward the mainstream. Unfortunately, the competitors released later had better features and better-known brands behind them. But it was an important device because thanks to Pebble, wearable tech is no longer a novelty.

But is it a mainstream device category? Well, not exactly – although major tech firms like Apple and Samsung offer such devices, along with a vast range of other manufacturers, they are not as successful as some expected them to be. Perhaps because they are redundant – people prefer to use traditional wristwatches to see what time it is and their smartphones to perform the rest of their functions. Although wearables didn’t blast into mainstream use like smartphones did before them but they are here to stay – and they will continue to grow in the coming years.

According to industry analyst CCS Insight, cited by Forbes, wearable devices will continue to grow in the coming years, reaching a market size of up to $29 billion by 2020 and unit sales of over 240 million worldwide. Smartwatches will be the devices fueling the growth of the industry, with fitness trackers – the devices most thought of as the savior of the wearable world as a whole – losing ground.

Last year, the sales of Apple’s smartwatches have grown by 60%, reaching 16 million units. The total number of smartwatches sold around the world in 2017 has grown to more than 70 million, according to Statista’s estimates. At the same time, fitness trackers have seen their sales decline by 18% in 2017. Two companies account for the bulk of their sales – Fitbit, dominating the Western markets, and Huami, a subsidiary of Xiaomi, that dominates the East.

One of the biggest sources of growth on the wearable front will be smartwatches aimed at kids. The products, especially popular in China, have been all the rage in 2017, with estimated sales of close to 25 million units in 2017. While the regulatory concerns and the general revulsion against Chinese products in the US will limit the sales of these products in the West, they are expected to grow continuously in Asia.

Google, the company behind the Android Wear platform, seems to be the biggest loser in the wearable market. The company recently shifted its focus from Wear to its own Pixel line and its Google Home products. Unless it rolls out a major update this year, Android Wear will be left behind.