Stefan Mileschin

Device sales dropped

Beancounters at ABI Research have noted that sales of wearables have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic because consumer interest in buying non-essential devices has dropped in the first quarter of 2020, along with the issues associated with a hampered supply chain.

Wearable shipments in 2020 are now expected to be 254 million, down from the previously forecasted 281 million, states a global tech market advisory firm. Although a significant drop, this new COVID-19 impacted forecast is a minor increase from the 241 million shipments in 2019. However, this now puts the estimated YoY increase at five percent, compared to 23 percent between 2018 and 2019 and the previously expected 17 percent.

“While wearables will see fewer shipments this year than originally expected, shipments of devices that can track and monitor healthcare vitals has lowered the impact”, said Stephanie Tomsett, research analyst at ABI Research. “Healthcare wearables are already being used to help track the progression of COVID-19 and monitor patients remotely.”

While healthcare wearables are aiding current situations, all wearable device types are expected to see a small amount of increase in the second half of 2020, with smartwatches and sports, fitness, and wellness trackers leading this growth. However, Consumers and enterprises will now prefer wearables that feature more health-related monitoring capabilities.
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