Wearable Technology Market to Hit $186.14 Billion by 2030

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The global wearable technology market size is expected to reach USD 186.14 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.9% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Wearable technology is gaining importance among consumers owing to its diverse applications in the industrial sector, healthcare, and consumer electronics among others. Rapid development in technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and GPS for location tracking and tracking health, is anticipated to support the industry's growth during the forecast years. For instance, in June 2021, Garmin Ltd. launched its new smartwatch, Forerunner 55. The watch is equipped with GPS technology, allowing users to track their distance, time, pace, speed, and heart rate information.

Key Industry Insights & Findings from the report: 

• The eyewear & head-wear segment is expected to register the second-fastest growth rate from 2022 to 2030. The increasing adoption of AR/VR headsets in the healthcare and multimedia industries and the growing adoption of smart hats support the segment growth.
• North America held the highest share of the global revenue due to the increased focus on health and fitness amid the pandemic and the easy availability & adoption of technology among consumers across the region.
• Consumers buying smart wearables, such as smartwatches, smart footwear, etc., are majorly intended to use their devices for health and fitness monitoring. According to the WHO, chronic disease incidence was expected to rise by 73% by 2020.
• The consumer electronics segment led the market in 2021. Many applications are available for consumer electronics, including entertainment, recreation, and communication. Consumers are increasingly seeking wearable consumer electronics, so industry players are developing devices that keep track of a person's working hours.
• In addition, the rise of connected devices and machine-to-machine communication is expected to support the industry's growth.
• Several companies are focused on launching the latest wearable technology products like smart helmets, smart glasses, smart rings, and more in the market. Furthermore, they are engaged in partnerships, mergers & acquisitions to improve their wearable technology.

Wearable Technology Market Growth & Trends

Wearable devices are synced with smartphones, which aids users in attending calls & messages without taking out their smartphones. Also, in-store merchandising, and ease of payment with wearables devices, are major aspects anticipated to attract consumers, thereby boosting the demand for smart wearables. The industry growth is accompanied by an increase in awareness about health and fitness among individuals. In addition, the approach of many companies toward introducing new smartwatches with new features that help the user track their health and share the data with doctors on a real-time basis is expected to boost the industry growth positively. For instance, in May 2022, Huawei Technologies Group Co. Ltd. launched Watch GT 3 Pro, which has a built-in GPS, health monitoring system, independent calling, and heart rate monitoring.

This launch is expected to help the company attract new customers and strengthen its position in the industry. Increasing health issues since the pandemic are expected to drive smartwatch adoption. These smartwatches include heart rate & skin temperature monitoring, pulse oximeters, and more that can help recognize coronavirus symptoms in users. According to studies from medical and academic institutions, such as Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Stanford University in California, smartwatches, such as Garmin Ltd, Fitbit, and Apple Inc., can determine whether a person is infected with COVID -19 even before they are symptomatic.

The adoption of smartwatches to track health-related issues, such as COVID-19 symptoms, oxygen levels, and blood pressure levels, is increasing. Most wearable devices store information about individual health, behavior, and daily activities on a communication service provider's server or a third-party vendor, which paves the way for data breaches, a significant factor expected to hamper the growth of the target market. For instance, the data of Apple, Inc. and Fitbit users was leaked online in 2021 as a result of an insecure database containing 61 million records. Data breaches are a significant issue as these attacks compromise users' privacy, which is expected.