The Future of the Wearable Technology Industry

Posted by Steve Stark on May 5th, 2022

The global wearable technology market size is projected to grow from USD 116.2 billion in 2021 to USD 265.4 billion by 2026; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.0% from 2021 to 2026.With wearable electronic devices all set to join the mainstream of personal computing, it is expected that the consumer preference for sleek and compact wearable devices would be the key driver for the wearable technology market.

Wearable devices, specifically smart watches and wristbands, are gaining traction among consumers worldwide. Also, there is an increase in demand for wearables in fitness and healthcare applications. Wearable medical devices are handheld monitoring tools used for the identification and monitoring of potential diseases. Currently, several patients are opting for home healthcare, which is a cost-effective and efficient way of treatment, over hospital services. Wearable technologies could help in lowering costs by facilitating easy health and fitness monitoring and connecting people to their healthcare providers, therefore, the growing demand for wearable technology in healthcare applications is driving the growth of the market.

The major limiting factor to the growth of the wearable technology market is the absence of a reliable and efficient battery system that could be easily worn without compromising on the compactness and ease of use of the device. As wearable computing moves toward convergence of all the computing devices into one wearable device, the biggest challenge is to address the power requirement and manage power consumption and recharging of batteries. With the growing demand for wearable devices, it is not only essential to meet the power efficiency need in a cost-effective manner but also to manage power consumption. This factor is expected to have a high restraining impact on the wearable technology market

APAC is expected to witness the highest demand for wearable technology owing to the presence of several wearable technology manufacturers and a large customer base in the region. The development of the next-generation wearable technology is expected to offer significant growth opportunities for the wearable technology market in APAC during the forecast period.

This growth in the industrial segment is mainly attributed to the increasing demand for wearable scanners and computing devices in warehouses and logistics to improve supply chain and operational efficiency. Wearable technology is also foraying into the automotive industry to improve operational efficiency. Volkswagen (Germany) introduced smart glasses as their standard equipment for factory workers. With the help of smart glasses, workers were able to improve their day-to-day tasks as they could see an inventory list in their field of vision which provided information such as part numbers and stored locations. Also, special touch and voice control functions enabled efficient, hands-free motion, thereby increasing their mobility. The smart glass was also integrated with cameras to read tags on the boxes and barcodes, ensuring that the correct parts are selected during inventory management. Considering all such developments, the market for enterprise and industrial applications is expected to grow at the highest rate between 2021 and 2026.

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The wearable products (non-textiles) dominated the market in terms of growth as well as market share. The growth of this segment is attributed to the increase in awareness of fitness and healthcare as well as consumer expectations. With the integration of wearable electronic devices into the mainstream of personal computing, consumer preference for sleek and compact wearable devices is expected to be the key driver for the growth of the wearable products (non-textile) segment. Consumer preference is expected to grow stronger with the participation of new players and the launch of new products in the wearable technology market. Key industry players are introducing new advanced non-textile- and textile-based wearable products which cater to various new application areas. For instance, non-textile-based wearable devices are currently used in medical surgery and oil and refinery plants. Moreover, wearable technologies are used in the automobile industry.

The wearable technology market is dominated by a few globally established players such as Apple Inc. (US), Fitbit Inc. (US), Google LLC (US), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.(South Korea), Garmin Ltd.(Switzerland), LG(South Korea), Huawei(China), Sony Corporation(Japan), Xiaomi Corporation(China), and Microsoft (US)