According to IDC, the wearable market’s growth thus far has been fueled almost entirely by smartwatches and wrist-worn fitness trackers, which are expected to account for 95 percent of all wearables shipped this year and to continue their reign over the market through 2022.
Other, more futuristic devices, such as the once hyped Google Glass have failed to make an impression with mainstream consumers and faded into obscurity. One potential area of growth is the smart earwear segment, which IDC expects to grow six-fold between 2018 and 2022.
Devices such as Apple’s AirPods, which are not multifunctional enough to be considered smart wearables by IDC yet, could pave the way towards a new generation of smart earwear with heart rate tracking and built-in smart assistants among the likely features of future devices.
