Forecast: 250 million smart wearables in use by 2018

Smartwatches and smart bands will account for the lion's share (87%) of wearable technology over the next four years, according to CCS Insight. In 2018 the company predicts 68 million smartwatches and 50 million smart bands will be shipped.

This Christmas will see strong growth for smart bands, according to Marina Koytcheva, CCS Insight's Director of Forecasting. "Wearables are poised to be the perfect gift for the person who has everything this Christmas," she said in a recent announcement. "We believe this will fuel strong growth in the final quarter of 2014 for smart bands, particularly fitness trackers, which will account for more than half of the 35 million wearables in use at end of 2014."

Koytcheva describes wearable technology as still being in the "stone-age" but that the technology, and just as importantly the design, is growing at a rate of knots. However, as with tablet computers, the price needs to come down before adoption will kick in to high gear.

Additional wearable technology forecasts from CCS Insight include:

- 2% of consumer wearable technology sold in 2018 will be glasswear;
- 1 in 40 people in developed markets will own a smart lifelogging device by the end of 2018;
- Tokens, clip-ons and jewelry will make up 3% of the wearable technology market by 2018.

"There are very few smart gadgets that I'd want to put on myself right now - they're all very techie-looking - but things are changing," commented Koytcheva.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: forecast, global, trend, wearable technology