Shipments of wearable tech devices will quadruple from 27 million this year to 116 million in 2017, according to a report from Juniper Research.
The report also predicts that by 2017 less than five per cent of all smartphones will be used in conjunction with a smart wearable device.
Juniper’s third annual benchmark report into smart wearable tech found that the market for fitness specific wearables could be cannibalised by the wave of smart watch devices that offer the same functionality.
The report also suggests that fitness devices that also offer notifications, such as the Samsung Gear Fit and Razer Nabu could assimilate smart watch sales, predicting that it will not be until 2017 when smart watches will be used more than fitness wearables.
Juniper also claims that the a decline in technological barriers will see larger market players focus on software, such as data banks and operating systems. The research firm used Samsung’s Digital Health Initiative and Google Wear as an example.
This will lead to smaller firms focussing on producing more quality devices without worrying about software, reducing innovation and limiting space in the market for independent wearables.