Smartwatch sales growth is expected to return from next year until 2028, despite an anticipated decline this year.
According to a report by the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, the smartwatch sales growth has declined 3% in 2024.
This marks the first ever year-over-year decline for the smartwatch segment.
The IDC has forecast a steady rebound for smartwatches from 2025 onwards, anticipating 4.8% growth next year.
The decline in growth has been attributed to the influence of the Indian market, with a recent influx in white-label products affecting sales.
Excluding India, the global market for smartwatches is forecast to grow 9.9% in 2025.
Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for mobility and consumer device trackers at IDC, said: “As smartwatch pricing continues to rise, vendors are going to face the tough challenge of justifying increases.
“Minimal design changes such as larger screens or a change in materials only go so far.
“To truly accelerate growth, vendors are going to have to focus on incorporating additional sensors while providing tailored advice to improve an individual’s health, a lot of which will require the use of artificial intelligence, although highlighting the use cases will be more important than highlighting the tech.”
Smartwatches saw an estimated 156.5 million units shipped in 2024, and 175.2m is forecast for 2028.
This would be the result of an anticipated 2.9% compound annual growth rate between 2025 and 2028.
The wearables market as a whole, which also includes earwear tech, wrist bands, rings and glasses, is expected to grow 6.1% year over year in 2024 to 537.9m units shipped.