What’s the future of smart watches?

"It's no longer a beautiful waste", "I feel full of security", "It turns out it's not an IQ tax", "I feel like it has life in an instant"...

Recently, some netizens posted on the Internet about events such as "About my Huawei watch detecting that I was positive" and "Apple watch identifying COVID-19". They all said that their smartwatches gave information about the early and late stages of their infection with COVID-19. Corresponding health tips, it can detect abnormal heart rate, abnormal body temperature, etc. This made netizens say that they instantly felt that the smart watch was useful and that they felt completely safe!

In fact, as early as the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, smart watch manufacturers and wearable technology companies wanted to use indicators such as heart rate and blood oxygen to mark this group of people. Although there has been no significant progress so far, research shows that wearable devices are still An effective way to track COVID-19 symptoms.

Smart watches were once considered by many to be a useless product that is not as functional as a mobile phone , has a battery life that is not as good as a bracelet, and is not as beautiful as an accessory. Now, everyone has seen its practicality, monitoring people's health information at all times. Condition.

Outstanding, smart watches maintain growth

In fact, since this year, consumer electronic products have generally been in a weak state. The growth rates of smartphones , TWS headsets, bracelets, etc. have slowed down or even declined year-on-year. However, in the "mess", smart watches have become a standout among thousands of flowers, and their market has maintained a positive growth trend.

Recently, according to IDC's "China Wearable Device Market Quarterly Tracking Report", China's wearable device market shipments in the third quarter of 2022 were 32.29 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.4%. Among them, the bracelet market and the ear-worn device market both suffered declines, while smart watches became the only subcategory to maintain growth, with shipments in the third quarter of 10.8 million units, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%.

Source: IDC

Among them, in the smart watch market, there were 5.38 million adult smart watches, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%; children's smart watches shipped 5.42 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 7.6%. IDC pointed out that Apple’s new product releases have played a significant role in stimulating the adult smart watch market.

Source: IDC

Based on the good market situation, competition in the smart watch market is becoming increasingly fierce, and the number of industry competitors is increasing. At present, foreign giants such as Apple, Samsung , and Google occupy a certain share of the smart watch market. Many domestic technology companies are also making compact layouts. Brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, Xiaocai Tiancai, etc. are actively deploying to cover a wider range of price segments. At the same time, it has also attracted new players to enter the game. Relevant data shows that 1,034 smart watch-related companies were registered in 2021. From January to May 2022, 20 new smart watch companies were added.

Data source: compiled by Qichacha and China Business Industry Research Institute

It seems that the smart watch market will continue to expand. According to IDC, adult smartwatches will show recovery growth in 2023, with shipments increasing by 3.5%. Market challenges and opportunities coexist. Its market opportunities are mainly reflected in: the gradual return of economic and social activities; more health sensing monitoring technologies are mature and widely used.

What’s next for smart watches?

Indeed, people in the post-epidemic era are paying more and more attention to self-health monitoring and management, and after being endowed with "smart" attributes, watches have virtually become "health assistants" in people's daily lives.

With the advancement of technology and market demand, the features of current smart watch products are no longer limited to functions such as Bluetooth synchronization with mobile phones to make phone calls, send and receive text messages, run step counting, remote photography, music playback, etc. They can also monitor physical health. Including sedentary reminders, monitoring sleep/breathing rate/heart rate/body temperature/blood oxygen saturation (one of the diagnostic and treatment indicators for COVID-19 patients) and other functions.

Nowadays, with the gradual relaxation of epidemic control, consumers' rising demand for active health management has promoted new growth space for smart watches with health monitoring functions. Its main health monitoring and management functions have become the current market One of the core selling points of most smartwatches on the market.

So, in this turbulent wearable industry, only smart watches that are smarter, faster to update, and more in line with people's health concepts can have an absolute advantage and stay firmly in the spotlight of smart watches.

1. Focus on strengthening the health monitoring function of the watch

Currently, people have great demand for wearable devices that can monitor physical health. Functions such as sleep monitoring, heart rate monitoring, and SOS emergency calling have gradually become standard features of smart watches. Therefore, manufacturers need to respond to the needs of consumers, strengthen the functionality of watches, and give smart watches professional and accurate body monitoring functions. Only by making the functions complex and sophisticated can they better serve the wearers.

2. Focus on “intelligent” performance

It is said to be a smart watch, so the most important thing is to reflect the "smart" characteristics. For example, for instant information such as WeChat, text messages, and incoming calls, smart watches can be used to directly know, read, and process information more intuitively and in a timely manner, thereby improving the efficiency of life and work. In addition, for example, smart watches can also integrate transportation card, access control card and other functions through NFC function. Of course, this kind of "intelligence" also has other possibilities.

3. Internal and external compatibility, new appearance design

As a wearable object, from the moment it is put on the wrist, a smart watch is not only a watch with various functions, it can also become an accessory on the wrist and a trendy fashion item for people. For example, Huawei's recently launched WATCH GT Cyber ​​adopts the industry's first detachable smart movement and a swappable case design, creating a new fashionable appearance for young people. It is available in three models: urban pioneer model, sports function model and fashionable and elegant model. There are six styles in six colors.

Source: Huawei official website

As competition intensifies, the next step for smart watches is worth thinking about. Especially in the post-epidemic era, how to meet the public's health needs and integrate special functions such as monitoring heart rate, body temperature and other physical conditions, as well as changes in other biological indicator data, is a breakthrough that manufacturers can focus on.

In this regard, IDC China Assistant Research Director Pan Xuefei believes that “2023 will still be a challenging year for smart watches, and market decisions will face more issues that require multi-party measurement, including but not limited to product positioning and target group coverage. Consider the choice between quantity and price in product pricing, the balance between demand driven by new products and inventory management. This is not only a test of market growth, but also a long-term layout for the sustainable development of the future market.”

write at the end

Perhaps a few years ago, you might not have thought that a watch could measure the wearer's heart rate, temperature, etc., and become a "health assistant" in people's daily lives. Nowadays, the field of smart wearable devices that can realize health monitoring functions has become a battleground for manufacturers. The market segment of smart watches is still growing, but the future development of smart watches remains to be seen.