IDC: 2025 Wearable Technology Market Predictions
This week, Ryan Reith, the VP of IDC Global Mobile Device Research, summarized the industry status and growth forecast of the global smart terminal market for 2025.
He also analyzed the changes in the smart terminal market in response to the development trend of supply chain manufacturers under the COVID-19 situation and the rise of application scenarios such as home office.
Demand suppressed by years of decline and extended update cycles, smartphone shipments in 2021 will increase by 7.4% year-on-year; the decline in average selling prices and supply-side push will drive the growth of 5G mobile phones.
IDC predicts that smartphone shipments in 2021 will grow by 7.4% year-on-year. It will maintain a low single-digit growth by 2025 and return to the pre-COVID levels.
Smartphone sales have rebounded much faster than the economic recovery suggested, because no matter where consumers are, mobile phones are still their preferred device.
Regarding the penetration rate of 5G mobile phones, due to the decline in average unit price and supply-side promotion (such as deployed investments, distributors unwilling to bear 4G inventory, etc.), consumers will switch to 5G models. IDC predicts that 5G mobile phones will account for more than half of the total volume by 2022.
In addition, the shipment of wearable devices will grow from 450 million units in 2020 to nearly 800 million units in 2025; Apple will continue to dominate the smartwatch field. IDC expects the shipments of ear-worn devices or “smart headphones” to grow from 265 million units in 2020 to 504 million units in 2025 (compound annual growth rate of 13.7%). This is driven by strong growth in the low-end market segment, as cheaper products are gaining more favor, especially in Asia.
