End-user spending on wearable devices was tipped to a total of $81.5 billion in 2021, as increases in remote working and interest in health monitoring are expected to drive the growth of the sector, research company Gartner found.
The sum represents an 18.1 increase year-on-year from $69 billion spent on wearables in 2020, with the figure expected to increase even further to $94 billion in 2022.
Ranjit Atwal, senior research director at Gartner, said the introduction of “health measures to self-track Covid-19 (coronavirus) symptoms, along with increasing interest from consumers in their personal health and wellness during global lockdowns”, presented a significant opportunity.
Smartwatches and ear-worn devices were expected to account for the bulk of the growth: Gartner said spending on the former grew 17.6 percent to $21.8 billion in 2020 and predicted $25.6 billion in 2021.
Growth is being driven by new users entering the market, as new processor technologies and improvements to battery life come to the fore.
Spend on ear-worn devices rose 124 percent in 2020 to $32.7 billion and is forecast to reach $39.2 billion this year. This was attributed to remote workers upgrading headphones for video calling.
Gartner also added smart patches as a new category in their latest wearable forecast, which are essentially health monitoring sensors to track temperature, heart rate, blood sugar, and other vital statistics.
“The shift to e-health, especially during Covid-19, will transform users’ perceptions of automated health provision and increase the demand for smart patches,” added Atwal.
