Data from IDC, an international data company, shows that wearable devices worldwide in 2018 Shipments are expected to reach 125.3 million units, an increase of 8.5% over 2017; at the same time, they estimate that in the next five years, smart watches will continue to grow, while smart bracelets will almost stagnate.

Data shows that the use of wearable devices in emerging markets is also increasing, and the compound annual growth rate of smart wearable devices in the next five years will reach 11.0% by 2022. The annual shipment volume will jump to 189 million units.

IDC mobile device tracking equipment senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani (Jitesh Ubrani) said: "The rise of smart wearable devices will not only appear In mature markets, there will also be emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific and other regions. ”

Japan will play an important role because Japan consumes more than one-third of all smart wearable devices.

The Android camp still has the problem of system fragmentation, but the benefits are also: open source platforms provide manufacturers with an opportunity to customize the experience of wearable devices, while also creating differences change. An obvious example is that Google’s services are unavailable in China. Many local brands have begun to make some localization attempts of their own on wearOS (Google’s watch system). IDC predicts that these devices will spread in many other countries. As more suppliers begin to provide products, and the platform catches up with competitors in terms of functionality, wearOS is expected to occupy 19.8% of the market in 2022.

The rest of the field of smart wearable devices will consist of smaller platforms and manufacturers, with Samsung, Fitbit and Garmin taking the lead with their respective proprietary platforms.

Ramon, research director of IDC’s wearables team, believes that smart watches The main function is still to actively provide users with browsable information, which is more convenient than mobile phones. Secondly, smart watches will provide a new way of communication between users. Third, the smart watch operating system will emphasize the connection, not only the connection between users, but also the connection between the wearer and other smart devices and systems. Finally, smart watches will play an increasingly important role in health and detecting potential diseases.

IDC predicts that throughout 2018, sales of smart watches will reach 72.8 million units, accounting for two-thirds of the total sales of wearable devices. It is estimated that by 2022, the total shipment of smart watches will reach 120.2 million pieces.

In addition to smart watches, hybrid watches and some children’s watches will continue to be shipped in large quantities.

From 2018 to 2022, the annual growth rate of smart bracelet products will remain at 0.3%. The increase is small, but it is expected that by 2022, this category will still account for 24.7% of the total sales of wearable products, and the total sales will reach 47 million units.

Although they are not as high-end as smart watches, they are the first step for first-time buyers to enter the wearable device market. In developed markets, these products will Become a simple disease monitoring tool.

In addition to watches and bracelets, there is another category of smart headphones. Their market share in 2018 is less than 2% and is expected to reach 6.8% by 2022. The growth in this category is largely due to the elimination of headphone jacks by mobile phone manufacturers. In addition, more and more manufacturers are applying biometric tracking technology to wireless headsets. In addition to listening to music, functions such as heartbeat detection have also been integrated into the headset to further promote the development of such products.