Global wearables market jumps 171.6% in 2015: IDC

The worldwide wearable device market more than doubled to 27.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, fuelled by the growing popularity of fitness trackers and the Apple watch, research firm IDC has said.
According to IDC, vendors had shipped 12.1 million units during the holiday quarter in 2014.
For the full year, vendors shipped a total of 78.1 million units, up 171.6 per cent from 28.8 million units in 2014.
"Triple-digit growth highlights growing interest in the wearables market from both end-users and vendors. It shows that wearables are not just for the technophiles and early adopters; wearables can exist and are welcome in the mass market," IDC Research Manager - Wearables team, Ramon Llamas said.

And since wearables are yet to fully penetrate the mass market, there is still plenty of room for growth in multiple vectors: new vendors, form factors, applications, and use cases that will help propel the market further, he added.
Fitbit led the market with 29.5 per cent share at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, followed by Apple (15 per cent), Xiaomi (9.7 per cent), Samsung (4.9 per cent) and Garmin (3.5 per cent).

"What is warranted is continued innovation and development. The market can only get so far with 'me too' and 'copycat' wearable devices," Llamas said.

End-users expect improvement from what they have now, and new applications to spur replacement and increased adoption, he added.
"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," he said.
Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers, said fashion and design will play an equally important role in increasing adoption.
"Simply encrusting your watch with gold and jewels is not going to cut it. Rather forming partnerships with notable fashion icons, a route taken by Fitbit and Apple, is far more likely to succeed," Ubrani said.

Though the top five certainly dominate with wrist-worn devices, there's been an immense amount of growth in other form factors like clothing, footwear, and eyewear - form factors that arguably require even more fashion sense than watches or bands, he said.