Technology

Demand for smartwatches surges as 45 million are expected to ship by 2017

The high-tech device will see a whopping 350% growth by the end of 2014

A new term has been added to today’s watches: SMART. The evolution of smartwatches greatly changed the purpose of wearing watches; Current wearers of these watches get everything updated at the click of a screen on their wrist. Gone are the days when watches were mere devices that displayed time; today they are highly up-to-date technology devices that are expected to have a gigantic growth in sales for being the current small sector. Sales of these smartwatches are expected to top a whopping 350% by the end of this year, and if the experts can be trusted, this is just the beginning.

The smartwatch industry recorded a shipment of 20,000 branded wearables in the first half of 2013. The same shipment figures increased by 700% and saw a shipment of 1.6 million devices, including different brands. These devices are becoming more famous among their users as the number of tech geeks using these portable devices is increasing all over the world. Shipments are estimated to close at over 8 million by the end of 2014. The device is anticipated to have an additional 15 million sales in just one year, as unit shipments will reach 23 million by the end of 2015.

Fitness monitoring is the leading application used in these smartwatch devices and although the number of users today is relatively low; it is sure to increase as the health awareness and healthcare segment develops rapidly, which necessitates the utilization of such advanced technology for constant monitoring. According to market research, segment specialists indicate that 2014 will be the game changer for these smart brands and they will place their demands at unprecedented rates for the coming years.

As stated above, fitness is the main concentrated segment for this smartwatch market as personal health monitoring first became a reality in early 2013. Fit-bit launched the first health tracker and has a dominant share of 58% of the total market. demand since its introduction in the year 2013. The company has its variants such as Flex and Force that had massive presentations in May and October respectively. The smart wearable device maker is followed by Jawbone UP, which has a 21% market share and Nike’s range of Fuel-band devices with a 13% share.

According to shipping records for these high-tech devices; Samsung rules the industry with its Galaxy Gear product, which had a 54% share in the second half of 2013. The manufacturer pushed this product with the nickname “Smart Band” which, unsurprisingly, became a craze among its users. The list is followed by Sony with a 19% share and Pebble which recorded 16% sales for the year 2013. Other companies together showed remarkable performance with 11% sales.