IDC: wearables market braces for short-term impact before recovery in 2020

The global wearables market is expected to grow 9.4% in 2020, reaching 368.2 million shipments according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker. 

This marks a significant slowing of the market compared to the 89% growth in 2019 as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts supply in the first half of 2020. Nevertheless, healthy growth is expected to continue throughout the forecast period as shipments reach 526.8 million units by the end of 2024 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4%

“Watches and wristbands will be negatively impacted in the short term and we anticipate a 13% decline collectively during the first quarter as many factories in China struggle with manufacturing due to labor and component shortages,” says Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. “Similarly, a decline of 7.1% is expected in the second quarter followed by mild recovery in second half of the year as supply constraints slowly begin to disappear and manufacturing returns to normal.”

IDC says earwear or hearables are expected to grow with a five-year CAGR of 10.3%, reaching 301.5 million units by 2024. While the category is currently focused on providing access to audio and smart assistants, IDC believes the category is on the cusp of offering health and fitness tracking that would be on par or perhaps even better than what is currently offered on the wrist since the stationary position of hearables makes them a prime candidate to gather consistent health and fitness data from up and coming sensors. However, these health and fitness features will likely remain secondary to audio and smart assistant-based use cases

Watches, comprised of smartwatches and basic watches, will experience a five-year CAGR of 11.4%. IDC says Apple will undoubtedly remain in the lead with the Apple Watch as it continues to offer a very tightly integrated ecosystem of products and its advances in health/fitness tracking as well as numerous improvements to the watchOS operating system have made it an appealing wearable to the mass audience.