Pandemic lifts sales of wearable gadgets

“It will be interesting to see what else can be added to smartwaches because I think people will want to see more features.” While the wearables market is dominated by big firms such as Apple and Samsung, smaller companies that focus on specific markets are “fuelling growth”, said Ramon Llamas, wearables research director at market research firm IDC.

“We expect device makers to keep adding more sensors to devices,” said Leo Gebbie, senior wearables analyst at consultancy CCS Inight, which expects 1.2 billion devices to be in use worldwide by the end of 2025.

The push into wearables comes as scientists scramble for solutions to curb the spread of the virus © AFP via Getty Images Earphones embedded in pearl earrings, a smartwatch that measures body temperature, a diamond ring that monitors sleep patterns: The wearable gadgets market has boomed as the pandemic boosts interest in health monitoring and working from home.

But with companies releasing new devices at a faster rate, Gebbie warned there often appears to be little to separate them out, especially at the lower end of the market where “wearable devices increasingly seem to be much of a muchness”.

But Gebbie of CCS Insight said consumers have gotten used to the look of wearables and the need “for them to blend in” has “disappeared a bit”.

It was the first time that global wearable sales topped half a billion and analysts expect the trend to continue, with the firm forecasting the devices will overtake smartphone sales by the end of the decade..

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