Wearables To Grow 20% In 2017, Says IDC

Following on from their previous report on the state of the wearables market, IDC analysts have predicted that smartwatches and fitness trackers will push the category to grow 20% by the end of 2017.

They say that 125.5 million wearable units will be shipped by the end of the year and that the category is on-track to reach 240 million units by 2021.

“It’s not just the end users who will benefit from these advanced devices,” said Senior Research Analyst Jitesh Ubrani in a statement.

“Opportunities also exist for developers and channel partners to provide the apps, services, and distribution that will support the growing abundance of wearables. From a deployment perspective, the commercial segment also stands to benefit as wearables enable productivity, lower costs, and increase ROI in the long term,” He added.

The firm previously reported that vendors shipped a total of 24.7 million wearable devices during the first quarter of this year – up 17.9% from the 20.9 million units shipped in Q1 of 2016.

The IDC say they expect to see significant advances in devices, including digital assistants, cellular connectivity, and connections to larger systems, both at home and at work.