Global consumer spending on smartwatches is forecast to surge by 33.77 percent year-on-year to US$22.8 billion next year, as it is expected to constitute the highest-grossing sector among wearable devices, advisory firm Gartner Inc said in a report last week.
Overall spending on wearable devices is forecast to grow 27.02 percent year-on-year to US$51.55 billion next year, up from US$40.58 billion this year, the report said, citing strong growth in the wearable device market, as well as consumers replacing wristbands with smartwatches.
“While brand leaders [Apple Inc’s] Apple Watch and [Samsung Electronics Co’s] Samsung Galaxy Watch command premium pricing in the smartwatch segment, lower-priced players such as Xiaomi [Corp (小米)] and Huawei [Technologies Co (華為)] will counterbalance high-priced smartwatches with lower-cost smartwatches,” Gartner senior research director Ranjit Atwal said in the report. “We expect average selling prices of smartwatches to decline 4.5 percent between 2020 and 2021.”
Shipments of smartwatches are to take the lead among wearable devices and hit 86 million units next year, the report said.
Head-mounted displays are to become the second-most important device in terms of global spending next year, outstripping that of ear-worn devices as spending is forecast to grow by 47.69 percent to US$10.61 billion next year, Gartner said.
The report suggested that the relatively slower growth in ear-worn devices is mainly due to a crowded market where competition is high.
Shipments are forecast to total 70 million units next year, led by Apple’s AirPods and Samsung’s Galaxy Buds, Xiaomi’s AirDots and Bose Corp’s SoundSport, it said.
Spending on ear-worn devices is forecast to increase 10.99 percent year-on-year to US$8.72 million next year, a similar pace to sports watches, which are expected to increase by 10.53 percent to US$4.56 billion.
Spending on wristbands is expected to decline slightly to US$3.12 billion next year from US$3.19 billion this year as smartwatches increasingly replace the devices, the report said.
Smart clothing, while ranking last in terms of global spending, is likely to see a strong growth of 51.69 percent year-on-year to US$1.75 billion next year.
Gartner attributed the increases to the miniaturization of wearable devices, which has enabled manufacturers to integrate sensors that can track sleep or medical conditions that are almost invisible to consumers.
“These discrete and nearly invisible wearables will particularly increase acceptance among reluctant end users,” Gartner senior research director Alan Antin said.
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