The worldwide wearable device market leaped ahead in 2015, with the growing popularity of fitness trackers and products like the Apple Watch leading vendors to ship a total of 78.1 million units in the year for 171 percent year-over-year growth of the industry.
That growth included a 126.9 percent year-over-year increase in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) of Framingham. This is a growing market with increased interest from both end-users and venders, showing that these products have now extended beyond early-adopters and technophiles and into the mass market, according to Ramon Llamas, Research Manager for IDC’s Wearables team. Even with this rapid growth, there is still room for more, as additional innovation and integration of design into the devices will help them go even more mainstream, he said.
“Prescriptive data, like what else a user can do to live a healthier life, coupled with popular applications like social media, news, and navigation, will push wearables further, and attract more users,” Llamas said.
And wearable devices are not just limited to watches and other wrist-worn devices, according to IDC, but also include clothing, footwear, and eyewear.
