24+ Wearable Technology Statistics (2023 Trends and More)

These are the topics we cover:

• Wearables usage
• Wearable technology market size
• Demographics
• Technology growth
• Companies

What is wearable technology?

1) What can be classified as wearable technology?

(Source: Investopedia)

The word “wearable” alone tells us that this type of tech can be worn on the body. Wearables are a category of electronic devices that can be used as accessories, embedded in clothing, implanted in the user’s body, or even tattooed on the skin. These devices are hands-free gadgets for various purposes that are powered by microprocessors and can send and receive data via the Internet.

Wearable Technology Market Size

2) How big is the global wearable technology market?

(Source: MarketsAndMarkets / GrandviewResearch)

In 2019, the global wearable technology market size was $32.63 billion

So we know people like using cool wearable gadgets, but how popular are they?

Let’s check out some wearable technology statistics to get an idea:

• The wearables market in 2015 was $15.74 billion
• It’s expected to reach $51.6 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 15.51% between 2016 to 2022
• From 2020 to 2027, it is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9%.

These figures make it apparent that the wearable technology market size is gradually increasing. In four years, from 2015 to 2019, the value of the market doubled. The number of connected wearable devices worldwide is expected to grow to over 1.1 billion in 2022 as the world moves from 4G to 5G.

Additionally, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had an inevitable influence on the wearables market’s growth. But was that effect positive or negative? People started purchasing more healthy wearables.

3) How big is the wearable market in the US?

(Source: eMarketer / Statista)

In the US, 56.7 million people used wearables at least once a month in 2019

We learned some things about the global wearable technology market size. Now let’s turn to the US and check out some numbers provided by eMarketer:

• Wearables are widely used in the US—56.7 million people used one monthly in 2019
• Smartwatches were used by half of these people in 2019
• An additional 3.8 million US children and young adults had a wearable device in 2019
• By 2024, 11.7% of the US population will use such devices, which is a projected decrease from the 2020s – 14.6%
• Revenue in the wearables segment reached $4.05 billion in 2020
• Revenue is expected to show a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of -1% between 2020 and 2024, resulting in a projected market volume of $3.84 billion
• User penetration was 14.6% in 2020 and is expected to be 11.7% in 2024
• The average revenue per user (ARPU) amounted to $83.99 in 2020

Wearables Penetration Rate

4) What is the worldwide Penetration rate of Wearable technology?

(Source: Statista)

Now that we’ve established some facts and numbers about the wearable technology market size in the US, let’s look into these gadgets’ penetration rate worldwide. These are the stats:

• Revenue in the wearables segment reached $18.98 billion in 2020
• Revenue is expected to have a CAGR of -2% between 2020 and 2024, resulting in a projected market volume of $17.85 billion by 2024
• User penetration was 5.9% in 2020 and is expected to be 4.8% by 2024
• The average revenue per user amounted to $43.00 in 2020

Here are some numbers by Statista about the penetration rate in the US. Wearable technology was used by 20.3 percent of adult Americans at least once a month in 2018.

Wearable Technology Sales

5) The global market for wearable electronics is expected to reach $74 billion by 2025

(Source: MordorIntelligence / Statista)

The wearable technology industry is growing, and so are the sales.

Here’s some data from a wearable technology industry analysis by Mordor Intelligence:

• The wearables market was estimated to have a value of $27.91 billion in 2019. This number will rise in the following years to a projected $74.03 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 17.65% in the next five years.
• By 2022, the number of wearables around the world is predicted to reach 1.1 billion. This is higher than 2018’s 539 million.
• The sales of wearable accessories rose 54% in 2019.
• Between 2018 and 2025, the wearables market around the world is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 16% and reach $33.07 billion.

How does the growth in the wearables market happen? Well, it’s mainly driven by smartwatch sales and shipments. In 2020, the shipments surpassed 100 million.

Earwear device sales are also expected to grow in the following years, with an increase of 45% between 2015 and 2023.

How many connected wearable devices are there?

6) The number of connected wearable devices increasing from 325 million in 2016 to 722 million in 2019

(Source: Statista)

In just three years, the number of connected wearable devices has more than doubled. The number of connected devices is forecasted to reach more than 1 billion by 2022.

7) In 2020, 30% of middle-income households used a fitness tracker

(Source: Builtin / Pipecandy)

Wearable health technology devices are essential to people who want to keep track of their health. Healthcare wearables like Ava, Gymwatch, Motiv, Apple Watch, Fitbit, and many more, allow people to have an active role in their healthcare.

Now, let’s check out some numbers.

According to Pipecandy, North America is the wearables tech leader, with a market share of 30% or $9.9 billion. Factors such as health awareness put countries like the US and Canada at the helm of the wearables industry.

• A fitness tracker was used by around half of all upper-income households in the United States.
• The percentage rises to 30% in middle-income households.
• It is 25% in low-income households.

Furthermore, urban areas have more users of health wearables than rural households—35% vs 30%, respectively. Fitness trackers and health apps tend to be a bit more prevalent among women than among men.

Growth of Wearables Usage

8) In 2020, 22% of the population owned a wearable device, and among them, three in five used it daily

(Source: Deloitte)

Wearables are on the rise!

According to a Mobile Consumer Survey conducted by Deloitte, the wearables market globally is predicted to rise to an amazing €77 billion, and the smartwatch market is expected to grow to €22 billion by 2022.

22% of the population owns a wearable device, and among them, three in five use it daily in 2020. That percentage was the same in 2019—22% (14% fitness bands and 10% smartwatches).

What types of wearables are used the most?

What types of wearable gadgets do you use?

Do you want to find out more about the types of wearables that are most frequently used?

Smart wearable technology devices have slowly but surely moved forward these past years. The most popular wearable is the Apple Watch, from the smartwatch category, but new gadgets emerge almost by the day.

Let’s look at the types of wearables by category and find out more information about the most popular wearable technology around the world:

Wearable IoT Devices

9) In 2018, the North American internet of things market was valued at around $95 billion and was forecast to grow to $340 billion by 2024

(Source: Statista)

Research by Statista shows that the North American market is one of the largest globally, and US companies such as Google, Cisco, and IBM are some of the top names in the field.

• At the beginning of 2018, 2.3 billion IoT connections were made in North America, and this number is expected to rise to 6 billion by 2025
• 29% of North American organizations and some in Europe use IoT tech
• 16% of the worldwide organizations plan to start using IoT technology shortly

The fact that the North American IoT market doubled over just a few years can be attributed to the wide range of applications and industries that can benefit from this increased connectivity of devices.

Wearable Wrist Technology

10) The number of wrist wearables is predicted to rise from 66.5 million units in 2019 to 105.3 million in 2023

(Source: Statista)

• Smartwatch production is predicted to grow in the period from 2019 to 2023
• It was 66.5 million units in 2019 and is expected to reach 105.3 million by 2023
• The wristwear segment is the most popular, with a 50% market share

Wearable Fitness Technology

11) In 2019, 21% of Americans used smartwatches or fitness trackers

(Source: Pew Research)

According to a Pew Research Center survey from 2019, more than one in five US adults use a wearable fitness tracker very often.

Additionally, over 41% of Americans approve of these trackers being used for health monitoring purposes, such as tracking heart diseases and doing research. On the other hand, 35% of Americans think this is unacceptable because of privacy concerns.

How many sports wearable devices are there?

12) In 2017, the number of shipped smartwatches around the world was 18.6 million units

(Source: Statista / DataBridge)

Sports wearable devices have been widely sold and shipped all around the world.

The number of shipped sports watches around the world in 2017 reached 18.6 million. Here are some numbers for the period between 2018 and 2020:

• 2018—19.5 million units
• 2019—21.3 million units
• 2020—27.7 million units

The global wearable sports devices market is predicted to grow. In 2018 the estimated value was $31.22 billion and was expected to reach $102.2 billion by 2026—a CAGR of 15.98% in the span of seven years.

How many health wearable devices are there?

13) In 2019, 223 million health wearables were sold worldwide, and this number is predicted to reach 300 million by 2023

(Source: Tecknoworks)

Fitness trackers seem to be the most popular wearable technology on the market. When these gadgets came out, only people who were in sports bought them—30 million were sold worldwide in 2014.

However, in just five years, the number drastically rose. 223 million sports wearables were sold in 2019, and 300 million are expected to be sold by 2023.

The global medical market for wearables was valued at $13.2 billion in 2019. By 2029 this number will rise to $104.9 billion—a CAGR of 23.3%.

Smart Glasses

14) The global smart glasses market in 2017 was $340.4 million and is expected to reach $20 billion by 2022 with a CAGR of 125.8% in the period between 2017 and 2022

(Source: Statista / PRNewswire)

What exactly are smart glasses, and how do you use them?

Smart glasses are wearable computer glasses that add information to what the wearer sees. Cool, right? Now let’s find out some details about smart glasses.

Forecasts suggest that smart glasses unit shipments could grow from 225,000 in 2017 to around 32.7 million in 2022.

Additionally, there are wearables called augmented reality glasses. The shipments for these have been rising since 2016, when there were 150,000 units sold worldwide. This number is projected to reach 22.8 million by 2022.

Smart augmented reality glasses unit shipments globally from 2016 to 2022:

• In 2016—150,000
• In 2017—340,000
• In 2018—3,716,000
• In 2019—6,542,000
• In 2020—10,793,000
• In 2021—16,660,000
• In 2022—22,801,000

It’s estimated that the global smart glasses market will reach about $20 billion by 2022—up from $340.4 million in 2017 at a CAGR of 125.8% in the period between 2017 and 2022.

Hearables

15) This smart audio equipment worn in or over-ear can provide an entirely new experience compared with traditional headsets.

(Source: Statista )

Let’s see some numbers regarding the hearables market growth:

• The shipments for hearables rose from 48.6 million units in 2018 to 170.5 million in 2019.
• At the end of 2018, there were 15 million TWS (True Wireless Stereo) headsets shipped around the world
• By the end of 2019, this number rose to 42.5 million

The entire wearables market, of which hearables currently make up the largest part, saw shipments of 368.2 million units in 2020 and is expected to reach 526.8 million in 2024.

According to IDC, the global wearable unit shipments were 85% higher in the second half of 2019 than in the previous year’s quarter, rising to 67.7 million units.

The category for hearables (such as earbuds or headphones) rose by 250% in 2019 compared to the previous year.

How many smartwatch users are there?

16) In the US, smartwatch sales rose from 9 million units to 22 million in the period between 2016 and 2020

(Source: Statista)

Here are some numbers by Statista about smartwatch device unit sales from 2016 to 2020 in the US:

• In 2019, 20.1 million smartwatches were sold in the US
• Between 2016 and 2020, smartwatch sales rose from 9 million to 22 million units

Apple held the largest share of the global smartwatch market in the first quarter of 2020. Its 47.9% share was followed by Samsung’s—13.4%.

Apple sold 12 million smartwatches worldwide in 2015 when it launched the product, capturing 75% of the market within months. This number rose to 19 million by 2017.

Over the years, Apple lost some of its market shares as competitors such as Samsung released products like Galaxy Watch (in 2018).

Demographics of Wearables Users

17) Men vs. Women

(Source: Pew Research )

Are wearables used more frequently by men or women?

Let’s find out!

The ownership of wearables is inconsistent in different parts of the world:

• According to a 2019 survey conducted in Japan by Rakuten Insight, around 12% of men-owned smartwatches, while that number was 3% for women
• According to Pew Research, women are more likely than men to say they regularly use these devices—25% vs 18% in the US.

Furthermore, while females are more likely to own activity trackers, 63% of smartwatch owners are male.

The category is still in its early days, and understanding who uses the products and who doesn’t could help the industry improve its products and broaden its appeal.

18) Age Groups

(Source: Ericsson)

Which age groups are most likely to use these devices?

In the US, most of the users of the wearable are adults aged 25-34. Ericsson Consumer Lab research reveals that 24% of wearables users were teens and young adults aged 15-24 in 2016.

A global consumers survey conducted in October 2019 revealed the following increases in demand by age group:

18 to 24-year-olds—14.1%
25 to 34-year-olds—36.4%
35 to 44-year-olds—26.3%
45 to 54-year-olds—17.2%
55 to 64-year-olds—16.1%

Wearable Tech Usage by Country

19) Not all wearables use varies based on where you are in the world.

(Source: Statista)

Let’s compare the usage of wearables in different regions. Statista shares the following data:

• By 2022, North America will have the most 5G connections ever made
• In 2017, there were 217 million 4G connections, and by 2022 that number will rise to 439 million, which is 222 million more than in 2017
• By 2022, the wearables in North America and Pacific Asia will constitute 70% of the 5G wearable connections made
• In the Asian region (China, Thailand, and Vietnam), the shipments of wearables are predicted to reach over 300 million units by 2023

A Statista Global Consumer Survey in 2019 found the percentage of people from different regions that use wearables:

• 34% in China
• 33% in India
• 32% in the US
• 27% in the UK
• 25% in Sweden
• 25% in Canada
• 20% in the Netherlands
• 19% in Germany
• 17% in South Korea
• 15% in Brazil

In North America, these gadgets are widely used, while in some developing countries, this technology is still in its early stages in terms of adoption.

Wearable Statistics by Income

20) The use of wearables varies by income.

(Source: SaaS Scout)

As some of the wearables are expensive, people with higher income go for more expensive brands. A study from 2019 showed that:

• Users from the low-income category accounted for about 34% of the total wearable users globally
• The medium-income users are about 41% of the global wearable count
• Only about 25% of wearable technology users were from the high-income group

As we can see from this study, people with medium income are the most common wearable technology users.

How People Use Wearables

21) How often are wearables used?

(Source: SaaS Scout / BrandonGaille)

The market for wearables reached over 25 billion units in 2020

As I mentioned before, the wearables industry is relatively new. The first Bluetooth headset was released in 2000, but a long time passed before these gadgets became mainstream. It’s been 20 years since then, and more than 325 million wearable units have been sold worldwide.

How often people use wearables depends on what type of device is in question. Let’s see some 2020 stats by the SaaS Scout Research Group that look at a couple of sub-categories:

• Global demand for basic wearable devices
  • Tech companies around the world dispatched at least 80 million shipments of basic wearable devices in 2019
  • Between 2019 and 2020, about 19 million wrist wear shipments were made
• Statistics for wearable devices for children
  • China saw growth in wearables demand among children, with 35 million units sold
  • In the US, the combined demand for wearable products for children of different age groups is 1 million
  • Europe experienced a decrease in the total number of wearables sold to children due to stringent regulations and privacy issues
• Global wearables statistics in 2020
  • The sale of wearables increased to about 245 million units in 2020
  • The market for wearables reached over $25 billion
  • With individuals around the world choosing to stay healthy and fit, the market for wearables is expected to surge globally in the coming years

By 2020, over 830 million wearable gadgets have been activated worldwide. Smartwatches are the main sold product globally, holding 52% of the market.

About 80 million basic wearables and 119 million wrist wearables were shipped worldwide in the same year.

How much are wearables used in the health industry?

22) The medical wearables market worldwide was estimated to be worth $12.7 billion in 2019 and is predicted to reach $37.6 billion in the next six years, with a CAGR of 19.7% in the period between 2019 and 2025

(Source: MedGadget / Allied Market Research)

A MedGadget report found the following about wearables usage in the health industry:

• In the four years between 2015 and 2019, the use of wearables in the US rose from 9% to 33% since these gadgets became easy to use and efficient in everyday life.
• More and more people are willing to share the information collected from their health wearables with their insurers.

Most Americans who have health wearables use them every day—90% of owners, to be precise. The size of the global fitness trackers market has been increasing since 2016, when it was valued at $17.9 billion, and is predicted to rise to $62.1 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 19.6% in the period between 2016 and 2023.

Wearable Technology Usage Growth

23) The number of wearables is predicted to reach more than 1 billion by 2022

(Source: Statista / Smartinsights )

Is the popularity and usage of wearables growing?

The upward wearable device trend is not slowing down.

Here are some stats by Statista with a wearable technology forecast about connected devices worldwide from 2016 to 2022:

• In the period between 2016 and 2019, the number of wearables more than doubled—from $325 million in 2016 to $722 million in 2019
• The number of wearables is forecasted to reach more than 1 billion by 2022

Additionally, according to a 2017 report from Juniper Research:

• Since 2016, the global wearables market has been rising rapidly at a CAGR of 16.9%. At the end of 2016, the number of shipments reached 33.9 million units, and that is not slowing down.
• The wearables market has no sign of slowing down and is predicted to continue rising in the future. In 2021 it’s expected that there will be 560 million shipments, with annual revenue of $95.3 billion in that same year.
• By the end of 2021, it’s estimated that the smartwatch sales will reach about 81 million units, which would be 16% of all total device sales.

Global shipments of wearable devices reached a total of 396 million units in 2020, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker. This was a 14.5% increase from the 345.9 million units in 2019.

Wearables Data

24) How much data do wearables create?

(Source: Stanford.edu)

“Smartwatches and other wearables make many many measurements per day, at least 250,000, which is what makes them such powerful monitoring devices,” said Michael Snyder—Ph.D., and genetics chair at the Stanford School of Medicine.

Wearable technology device data from health devices help companies learn about vitals, habits, and progress, allowing them to make informed decisions about designing these products.

Top Companies in the Wearable Tech Industry

25) In 2019, Apple’s wearables, home, and accessories category brought the company $5.1 billion—that number rose to $6.3 billion in less than 12 months

Listed below are the leading tech companies wearables, as identified by GlobalData:

• Apple—In 2019, Apple’s wearables, home, and accessories category accounted for $1.2 billion in revenue
• Fitbit—In 2019, the year-end revenue of Fitbit was a total of $1.43 billion
• Garmin—Garmin’s total revenue was $1.1 billion in 2020, compared to $934 million at the same time the previous year
• Huami—The company’s total revenue for 2019 peaked at 5.82 billion yuan ($834.9 million), which is an increase of 59.4% from the previous year
• Xiaomi—In 2016, Xiaomi shipped 15.7 million units worldwide
• Apple is the leader in this market—the company entered it in 2015 with its first smartwatch.

Conclusion

More than half of the people (56%) worldwide own a wearable, highlighting the speed with which these devices entered our lives.

Wearable tech provides us with the ability to monitor our health, track our GPS location, and view text messages more quickly.

As technology develops, wearables have the potential to become even more beneficial in the near future.