IDC released the forecast report on the global shipment of wearables in 2022. Although the wearables market grew by 1.7% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2022, it is estimated that the global shipment in 2022 will decline by 3.3% to 515.6 million units. The downturn in 2022 is due to the rapid growth of the market in the first two years of the pandemic and the challenging global macroeconomic environment. However, IDC expects that the improvement of economic conditions and the increase of demand in emerging markets will drive new growth in 2023, and the shipment volume is expected to reach 539 million units.

Although the market has always been dominated by such technology giants as Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi, this combination is changing with the rapid growth of Indian brands. In the third quarter of 2022, three of the top 10 wearable device companies are from India, and Image Marketing ranks the second in the world, second only to Apple.

Looking ahead, it is expected that the wearable device market will grow healthily at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1%, and the shipment volume will reach 628.3 million units by the end of 2026. IDC now expects that the compound annual growth rate of smart watches will be 6.3%, including those running advanced operating systems, such as Apple Watch or Wear OS watches, and operating systems running on RTOS, such as operating systems from Polar, Withings, OnePlus or other companies; The compound annual growth rate of audible equipment over the same period will be 5.1%.

As more and more people want to have a higher understanding of their health, fitness and personal activities (including sports and habits), the demand for lifestyle data is growing. This growing concern for data, coupled with the desire for more convenience, has led to an increase in the shipment of connected consumer electronics that support Bluetooth - from wearables and smart watches to tools, toys and toothbrushes, to health and fitness equipment. Analysts predict that the annual shipment of personal consumer electronic products will double by 2026.

As smart watches become more and more complex, they have adopted more functions and more functions. They have not only taken over the role of keeping people in touch (for example, phone, email, text, music, etc.), but also taken over the role tracker of fitness and health. As growth shifted to smart watches, sales in these two categories continued to be strong. This year, the shipment of Bluetooth smart watches will reach 101 million, and by 2026, this number will increase 2.5 times to 210 million.