Global shipment of wearable devices expected cross 637 million units in 2024

30 September 2020: The recent report of International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates that wearable devices shipment volume to touch total 637.1 million units in 2024 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4%. According to IDC’s report ‘Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker,’ the second half of 2020 is on pace to continue this trend and with the launch of new products-including hearables, watches, and wristbands – from multiple vendors, the wearables market is on track. The Global shipments of wearable devices are expected to total 396.0 million units. This marks a 14.5% increase from the 345.9 million units shipped in 2019.

Despite the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy, the first half of 2020 delivered positive results. Beyond devices, one trend to watch is the emergence of services to complement wearables. Apple’s recently announced Fitness+, Amazon’s new Halo and Fitbit’s Fitbit Premium connect users with health and fitness content (i.e., guided workouts, coaching, and diet advice) while incorporating data from their wearable device. Several other companies are taking a different route, showing enterprise customers how to keep their employees physically distant and detect early signs of potential illness.

Even though vendors scaled down production and end users were quarantined, demand for wearables remained steady. The market was propelled by near-record demand for hearables, which was enough to offset slightly lower demand for watches and wristbands.