Smart Watch Market
The global smartwatch market size was USD 30,434.1 million in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2 % from 2022 to 2030. The market is anticipated to witness a surge in adoption owing to the growing inclination for fitness tracking and health monitoring features. Manufacturers have introduced smartwatches with advanced health monitoring features such as blood oxygen and SpO2 sensors, a stress monitor, electrocardiograms, a calorie counter, and more. Several companies such as SAMSUNG-, Noise, Fitbit, FOSSIL GROUP, INC., and more are introducing smartwatches with health monitoring devices. For example, in September 2021, Apple, Inc. launched the new Apple Series 7 smartwatch model that features multiple health monitoring functions, such as native sleep tracking, blood oxygen saturation, electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, improved fall detection, and heart health monitoring.
Smartwatches, like other wearable devices, come packed with features such as calling/messaging, navigation, voice assistance, pairing with other connected devices, and more, enabling users to automate their daily activities. The smartwatch market has experienced fundamental technological developments related to operating systems and interfaces (UI). This has enabled companies to provide smart watches with lag-free UI and advanced features in a short span of 3-4. For instance, in June 2021, Garmin International Inc. launched the Forerunner 945 LTE, a triathlon smartwatch that has features of LTE connectivity, GPS, and more.The Internet of Things (IoT) wearable helps make data-driven decisions and enables users to connect with colleagues remotely for video conferencing. Smartwatches include IoT-related features that allow the received information to be transmitted to a remote server, enabling real-time monitoring of individual behavior. Furthermore, IoT-based smartwatches can be connected with IoT devices to monitor users’ physical activity. IoT-enabled smartwatches are used across various applications, including edge analytics, computational offloading, sports sector, biometric readings, automatic device connection, and more.
Smartwatches have finally created IoT applications with human components; hence, the growing applications of smartwatches are expected to drive the market.The COVID-19 outbreak led to manufacturing delays and supply chain disruptions resulting in a minor setback for the consumer electronics industry. The manufacturing and supply of the smartwatches were impacted during the first two quarters of 2020.
However, as manufacturing returned to operational levels by the beginning of the third quarter and high consumer demand was generated due to the work-from-home and fitness activities, the smartwatch market experienced steady growth during the pandemic.The lack of control over the data, collected by the owners via their various smart wearable devices, limits the growth of the market.
Most wearable device privacy policies indicate that data obtained would be exchanged with a third-party vendor, paving the way for a data breach. For instance, Fitbit and Apple users' data was leaked online in the year 2021 because of an insecure database comprising more than 61 million records related to wearable and fitness trackers.