Watches to Lead Wearables Category Through 2021, but Earwear Growing Fast, Says IDC

this year, up 16.6 percent from 2016, extending to 229.5 million in 2021, IDC said. The wrist is the “ideal location” for users to interact with data and apps, and varieties of style and features will keep wrist-worn devices “well out in front of the market,” said Llamas. Ear-worn wearables with integrated personal assistants, and clothing that communicates vital signs to a doctor, have many possible use cases but will ship in small volumes and come in under 5 percent in market share, he said. Professional teams and athletes will drive the clothing-based wearables market, with embedded sensors that track fitness performance and fatigue, but general consumer interest will lag because many of the features already are found in other wearables, IDC said. Cellular connectivity, improved sensors and better algorithms will improve devices’ accuracy and make it possible for companies to sell wearables through new channels and to new customers, said analyst Jitesh Ubrani. Earware, excluding Bluetooth headsets, will have single-digit market share through the forecast period, but will produce the fastest growth in the category, climbing from 1.8 million shipments this year to 10.5 million in 2021. Conventional music playback is a common thread across all earwear, with fitness tracking and coaching, real-time language translation and audio modulation through connected earwear on the horizon. Watches, currently 55 percent of the wearables market, will rise to 67 percent share in 2021, while wrist-based trackers drop from 39 percent share this year to 22 percent in 2021, it said. Smartwatches running third-party applications and basic watches that don't run third-party apps will comprise the majority of wearable devices throughout the forecast, said IDC, with Apple and Android Wear leading the market. Fitbit's Java-based operating system and Garmin's Connect IQ also will make strides, it said.