Smartwatches to Lead the Wearable Market Until 2022, IDC Forecasted

IDC, a market researcher, forecasted that smartwatches will remain its No.1 position in the wearable sector until 2022.

According to the prediction made by IDC, the total number of wearable products sold is expected to be 125.3 million in the world. It is an increase of 8.5 percent year-on-year. In addition, this figure can be able to hit the new mark of 189.9 million devices in 2022. Of which, the total sales of smartwatches, in particular, will reach 72.8 million in 2018, accounting for 75% of all wearable devices in the global market. It is estimated that the shipments of smartwatches could reach 120.2 million in 2022.

Regarding the smartwatches' operating system, although the share of Apple Watch’s OS is expected to decrease by 8.6% from 44.4% in 2018 to 35.8% in 2022. It is still the pioneer in the operating system in the market of wearables devices. Meanwhile, the smart accessories using the Android operating system will account for 22.4% of the market share in 2022. The next position will belong to WearOS having 19.8% of market share in the world.

Commenting on this result, the Head of Research at IDC researcher, Mr. Ramon Llamas told that the operating systems for smartwatches are expected to pay more attention to the links among users, wearers, and other smart devices as well.  In addition, he also stated that in the near future, the development of smartwatches will focus mainly on the health sector, which helps people track their health targets and be able to detect illnesses early.

Furthermore, IDC also predicted that the market of wearable devices will be led by the wristbands and smartwatches in the coming time. In addition, the market will witness the rise of earwear, a device which is similar to wireless earbuds and headphones at present.