Wearable Market Poised for a Surge

Gartner says Worldwide Wearable Devices Sales to Grow 18.4 Percent in 2016; Sales of Smartwatches to Total 50.4 Million Units in 2016

Gartner forecasts that 274.6 million wearable electronic devices will be sold worldwide in 2016, an increase of 18.4 percent from 232.0 million units in 2015. Sales of wearable electronic devices will generate revenue of $28.7 billion in 2016. Of that, $11.5 billion will be from smartwatches.

“Smartwatches have the greatest revenue potential among all wearables through 2019, reaching $17.5 billion,” said Angela McIntyre, Research Director at Gartner. “Though the sales of smartwatches are the one of the strongest types of wearables, their adoption will remain much below sales of smartphones.”

Fitness wearables — which include wristbands, smart garments, chest straps, sports watches and other fitness monitors — continue to increase in popularity, driven in some part by U.S. wellness programs.

“Continued advances in sensors and analytics for sports watches will bring new capabilities that bolster average retail prices.”, said Ms. McIntyre. “Race runners, cyclists and divers will choose sports watches over smartwatches because the user interface, capabilities and durability are tailored to the needs of an athlete in their sport.”