The outlook for the wearables market globally looks promising, having grown at a CAGR of 16.2% between 2016 and 2020. There are additional applications for wearables being developed all the time, thereby increasing the market size.
Market Size
- The global market size for wearables was $19.633 billion in 2016 and was expected to climb to $57.653 billion by 2022. Growing at a CAGR of 16.2%, the following market sizes can be calculated.
- In 2017, the global market size would have been $22.814 billion.
- In 2018, the global market size would have been $26.510 billion.
- In 2019, the global market size would have been $30.805 billion.
- In 2020, the global market size is expected to reach $35.795 billion.
- In 2021, the global market size is expected to reach $41.594 billion.
- In 2019, the global market shipped 305.2 million wearable products and this number is expected to increase 489.1 million units by 2023.
- Earwear holds the largest share of the market at 45.7% of units shipped in 2019, followed by smartwatches at 22.7%, wristbands at 22.4%, and other at 9.2%.
- In 2023, earwear is expected to increase its share of the market to 56%, with smartwatches holding nearly steady at 22.3%, and writsbands falling to 14.3%. The "other" category is expected to decrease to 7.5%.
Growth Rate
- The global growth rate of the wearables market between 2016 and 2022 was expected to be 16.2%.
Market Applications and Drivers
- The applications for wearables are expanding, with products for nearly every part of the body:
- Head: helmets, military apparel, and immersive infotainment
- Ear: Headphones, hearing aids, and ear-worn trackers
- Eyes: Smart eyewear, AR/VR, and smart contact lenses
- Body (Torso): Smart clothing, chest straps, and skin patches
- Arms: Medical smartwear, arm-worn trackers, skin patches, and sports apparel
- Wrist: Smartwatches, wrist-worn fitness trackers
- Legs & Feet: Smart footwear, medical devices, military apparel, and sports apparel.
- Other: Implantable devices and multi-location devices
- Two major drivers of the wearables market in 2019 were healthcare and enterprise adoption.
- Healthcare providers are using wearables to develop digital health systems and enterprises are using wearables to help employees work more efficiently.