“Wearables market will grow nearly 20 % in 2016”

Research firm Gartner believes the wearables market, including smartwatches, will grow nearly 20 % in 2016. It expects nearly 275 million wearables to be sold this year alone.

Fitness wearables are still popular

Compared to 2015, when 232 million devices were sold, this would be an 18.4 % growth. Turnover should reach 28.7 billion dollars (25.7 billion euro), with smartwatches responsible for 11.5 billion dollars (10.3 billion euro), which boils down to more than 50 million devices. 

That pace will continue in 2017, as Gartner expects 323 million devices sold, including 67 million smartwatches then. That means the number of smartwatches sold should double in two years’ time. Fitness wearables will also continue their rise, thanks to more health programs in the United States.

Another, albeit smaller, growth market is that of head-mounted displays. Only 140,000 were sold in 2015, but a huge growth to 1.43 million devices is to be expected in 2016 and an astonishing 6.31 million should be sold in 2017. The arrival of “virtual reality” glasses later this year (like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive) should help pave the way for these head-mounted displays. Gartner also forecasts these head-mounted displays will become increasingly popular in a professional environment.