Vuzix is positioning its smart glasses as a solution for supply chain management. The company said Wednesday it received a follow-on order for its M400 smart glasses from a Fortune 50 customer to support its logistics network. Global supply uncertainties, disruptions and inflationary forces are driving companies to "better manage their supply chain complexities,” it said, saying smart glasses can be a cost-effective tool for e-commerce logistics management for product transportation, inventory and order fulfillment.
Global wearables shipments grew 32% year over year to 114.2 million in Q2, as hearables and smartwatches each grew 39%, said IDC Tuesday. Wristband trackers remained flat, it said, due to a lack of notable product launches in recent quarters and consumers' continued transition to smartwatches. The $200-$300 smartwatch segment gained 10 percentage points year on year, driven by demand for the Apple Watch SE and Series 3, Fitbit Versa 3 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2, said analyst Jitesh Ubrani. Apple led the market with 28.2% share on 32.2 million shipments, but growth slowed to 9.3% year on year on an “aging product lineup” and tough comparable sales vs. a Q2 2020 surge, said IDC. Fourth-place Samsung followed Xiaomi and Huawei, with 8.5% share and shipments of 9.7 million as it has secured a spot as the “de facto choice of wearables for Android users.” India-based boAt, Huawei, JBL and JLab Audio buoyed the sub-$100 hearables category with premium features including active noise cancellation. A good-better-best portfolio strategy with staggered price points allowed companies to reach more customers, said analyst Ramon Llamas. High-end features will continue to make their way to mid-tier and mainstream products, said Llamas, which will “lure people to upgrade or purchase their first devices.”
Google bowed its latest fitness tracker, Fitbit Charge 5, Wednesday with an AMOLED color touch screen and up to seven days’ battery life. The $179 wrist-based wearable comes with six months of Fitbit Premium ($9.99 a month; $79.99 annually), including more than 500 workouts, mindfulness and nutrition sessions, and actionable guidance, Google said. The company also launched a “daily readiness” experience for the Charge 5 and its other wearables that gives users a score based on fitness fatigue, heart rate variability and recent sleep. An electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor measures a body's response to stress through tiny changes in the sweat glands on fingers, and an electrocardiogram feature will be available soon, it said.
Disney picked Mojo Vision, developer of the world's first augmented-reality smart contact lens with a built-in display, as one of eight startups to participate in its Disney Accelerator three-month mentorship program for 2021, said Disney Monday. Mojo Vision won CTA’s Last Gadget Standing competition at virtual CES 2021. Companies that have participated in Disney Accelerator, now in its eighth year, have gone on to collaborate with Disney subsidiaries to bring new products to market, said Disney.
E-glasses company Innovative Eyewearannounced an investment crowdfunding campaign via StartEngine Thursday to enable investors “at any level” to own a stake in the company. The Lucy-branded glasses maker is developing a voice-controlled social media app called Vyrb that’s being built for wearable tech. Vyrb unites all social media feeds, allowing users to listen and respond to social media posts with their voice, without having to look at their smartphones, said the company. Vyrb can be used with the Lucyd Lyte and any other Bluetooth-enabled technology, the company said. Its intellectual property portfolio includes 24 pending and granted patents, including three utility patents and 21 design patents. Lucyd glasses use open-ear audio, allowing wearers to “discreetly” listen to music or podcasts and take phone calls without obstructing their hearing, said the company. Prescription lenses start at $35; frames are $149.
TCL announced smart display glasses at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, positioning them as ideal for movie watching, gaming or providing “a private space at home, work, or on your commute.” The Nxtwear G glasses use dual Sony 1080p full HD Micro OLED panels to emulate a 140-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, said TCL Thursday. The Nxtwear Gs are compatible with 100 smartphones, convertible two-in-one tablets and laptops, and will be available in Australia beginning next month, with market availability to follow in other regions.
Fitbit introduced a Minions-themed activity and sleep tracker for kids 6 and older that encourages them to be active and build healthy habits, said the company Tuesday. The water-resistant Ace 3 Special Edition: Minions ($79) sends hourly alerts to remind users to move. Parent View lets parents view and manage activity, it said.
Consumer demand for wearables remained strong in Q1, though volume retreated from record Q4 levels, reported IDC Thursday. It estimates global shipments of 104.6 million devices were up 34.4% from Q1 a year earlier -- the first time first-quarter shipments topped 100 million. Though Apple and Samsung maintained double-digit leadership shares, most of the growth -- 55.5% year over year -- came from smaller companies like boAt and Oura, said IDC. Apple started 2021 the way it ended 2020 “as the clear leader in the worldwide wearables market,” IDC said. Samsung moved ahead of Xiaomi for the first time in Q1 and by more than a million units. Xiaomi was the only company among the top five to post a year-on-year decline.
German wearables unit volume reached 6.8 million in 2020, a 22% increase from 2019, reported gfu Tuesday. Revenue rose 20% to more than 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion). German consumers spent just under 170 euros ($206) on the average device. The “relatively young” wearables sector grew into a “respectable category,” said Managing Director Sara Warneke.
Hearables were the “must-have device” of 2020, with 64.2% of the wearables category, reported IDC analyst Ramon Llamas Monday. Hearables offered “a new degree of privacy” when users were at home and in public, said the analyst, noting a long list of vendors offering various models with a range of feature sets and price points. Llamas highlighted Apple with AirPods Max and Amazon’s entry into the hearables space with Echo Buds and Frames, citing a “constantly shifting competitive landscape.” Also driving the category were new features making their way down the price curve: automatic noise cancellation and voice assistant capability. Overall, global wearables shipments grew 27.2% in Q4 vs. the year-ago quarter, rising 28.4% year on year to 444.7 million units. Q4 shipments were driven mostly by new devices and lower prices, with the broader 2020 trend due to the surge in consumer spending for electronics, said the research firm. COVID-19 “put health and fitness at the forefront of many consumers’ minds," said analyst Jitesh Ubrani. In addition to in-home fitness programs, consumers bought devices measuring temperature and heart conditions to track diseases, he said. Growth was uneven in wearables due to component shortages. Wristband shipments fell 17.8% in Q4, to 11.5% of shipments; watches were 24.1%. Apple led the wearables segment with 36.2% share in Q4, with Watch shipments rising 45.6% year on year on the company's three-tier price offering. Hearables shipments slowed to 22% growth, from 28% in Q3 and 29% in Q2, IDC said, noting the “huge amount of adoption” the market had in recent quarters. Samsung, with 8.5% Q4 wearables share, followed second-place Xiaomi, shipping 8.8 million wearables. Samsung’s low-cost wristbands got more traction and were able to compete with Chinese vendors in a few markets. Samsung's watch shipments declined to 2.9 million in Q4, IDC said. For the year, Apple led wearables shipments with 151.4 million units (34.1% share), followed by Xiaomi (11.4%), Huawei (9.8%) and Samsung (40 million shipments, 9%).