Market analytics firm Counterpoint Research, who analyse automotive, components, IoT, smartphone and wearables markets (among others), have released a report considering the rise of hybrid smartwatches and where they believe the industry will grow.
The report says that “In 2016, smartwatches did not achieve the expected sales. However, the smart wristwear market is evolving with hybrid watches,” and points to $1 billion in revenue for the hybrid smartwatch market in 2017.
“77 per cent Annual Growth”
Peter Richardson, Research Director, Counterpoint Research, said: "Hybrid smartwatches sales volumes will grow 77 per cent annually taking the penetration to 12 per cent of the total smartwatch volumes in 2017." Citing improved battery life, fitness-tracking capability and traditional watch aesthetic preservation as key drivers behind this, Counterpoint Research analyst Mudit Singh added that “meaningful and frequently used smartwatch features” were the reason behind the soaring popularity of hybrid smartwatches.
The report’s bottom line: The smartwatch buzz is now dying down and a longer product lifecycle is now needed to retain customers. Hybrid smartwatches offer that, because they don’t become outdated as quickly and offer plenty of features.
More Positive Research on Hybrid Smartwatches
Counterpoint Research’s new report joins a similarly positive report published in January by Juniper Research, who suggested that hybrid smartwatches would account for 40 per cent of the smartwatch market by 2021, and that revenue would grow to $21 billion.
Both Counterpoint Research and Juniper Research have something in common with their reports too, despite being published months apart: That the likes of Fossil Group coming out with a huge range of new hybrid devices (40 new hybrid smartwatches across their brands) will drive the market, to improve sales, shipments and revenue in the years to come. Both of these reports are good news for smartwatches, then, since research firm IDC published figures recently stating that global smartwatch shipments declined from 5.6 million shipments in Q3 2015 to 2.7 million shipments in Q3 2016.