Wearable Tech’s $34B Price Tag

Only in emerging markets, like wearables and fitness trackers, do established retailers and startups alike enjoy success and interest from consumers, and new data shows that the good times aren’t likely to end anytime soon.

London-based CCS Insight released its official wearables market predictions on Wednesday (Feb. 17), and the firm estimated 411 million individual units would be sold in 2020, bringing the entire market’s revenue total to $34 billion. Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, wasn’t surprised at the numbers, even though 2016 is only expected to see 123 million devices sold and $14 billion in revenue made.

“Given the rising consumer apathy toward smartphones, it is little wonder so many companies are chasing the rapidly growing opportunity presented by wearables,” Wood said in a statement. “We’re particularly excited about the potential for augmented and virtual reality devices, and we predict 2016 will be a pivotal year.”

Helping the rise of the planet of the wearables along is the impending explosion of device diversification. CCS Insight noted that, while at the moment smartwatches and fitness trackers constitute 76 percent of all wearable sales, consumer virtual reality headsets, IoT-enabled jewelry and clothing and other devices will all enter the market and help grow revenue even further. In fact, in 2020, CCS predicted virtual reality headsets like Oculus’ Rift and Samsung’s Gear will drive the lion’s share of purchases, with 42 percent of all sales.

That’s a far cry from the paltry 12 percent of sales that virtual reality currently brings in.

Most of the wearables industry might look at this data and then to the future, but CCS also highlighted some poignant analysis on the year that was. Though Apple may have the most high-profile wearable device in the Western world, the company only sold 9 million units by year’s end. On the other hand, Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi managed to capture a third of all wearable sales in its native country on the strength of its Mi Band line.