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IDC Forecasts Global Smartwatch Shipments Rising at 17.9% CAGR Through 2022

IDC sees global smartwatch shipments increasing at a 17.9 percent compound annual growth rate in the next five years, to 84.1 million units in 2022 from 43.6 million in 2018, it said in a Tuesday report. "Consumers are finally starting…

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to understand and demand the utility of a smartwatch," said IDC. Fitness leads other smartwatch uses “by a mile but mobile payments and messaging are starting to catch on,” it said. “The addition of cellular connectivity is also starting to resonate with early adopters and looking ahead the emergence of new use cases like music streaming or additional health sensors will make cellular connectivity pivotal to the success of the smartwatch." Apple shipped more than half the world’s smartwatches in 2017, said IDC. Though it expects that Apple “will maintain its lead in this category,” competing products from Fitbit, Garmin and Wear OS vendors “will gain traction over time,” it said.