The Middle East and Africa (MEA) wearable market continued its strong growth trajectory into the first quarter of 2017, according to the latest figures compiled by IDC. Bucking a trend that has seen slowdowns in other segments of the personal consumer devices market, IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker for the first quarter of 2017 shows that shipments of wearables were up 30.2% on year in the MEA region.
Intriguingly, while shipments of basic wearables (devices that do not support third-party applications) increased 16.8% on year, it was the growth of smart wearables (devices that do support third-party applications) that provided much of the market's momentum, with shipments up 64.9% on year. This marks a considerable turnaround for the market, with Samsung's Gear S3 line of smart watches and Apple's Series 1 and Series 2 smart watch offerings being particularly well received in the market, both by first-time buyers and consumers looking to upgrade.
"The MEA wearable market is in the midst of a major transformation," said Nakul Dogra, a senior research analyst for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC MEA. "Indeed, we are seeing an evolution of the market from fitness bands to smart wearables such as watches, earwear, and clothing. IDC expects that by the end of 2021, smart wearables will account for 43% of total wearable shipments in the region, up from just 26% in 2016.
"Fashion-conscious consumers now have a variety of smartwatch options to choose from, with sleek designs, myriad strap options, and trendy interfaces being offered by vendors, without compromising on features like responsiveness, sensor performance, battery life, and smartphone interaction. Increasingly, tech firms are collaborating with well-known fashion brands on new offerings to keep consumers interested, and this approach will be instrumental in driving wearable growth as it opens up the devices to new audiences through the inclusion of point of sales in fashion outlets."
IDC expects the MEA wearable market to grow 20.9% on year in 2017 to reach a total of 2.9 million units. The smart wearable segment will continue to be the prime driver of this growth, with shipments tipped to increase 52% on year. In the longer term, IDC's latest forecast shows the market expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.2% over the 2016–2021 period.
"The next wave of growth for the wearable market will stem from adoption by value-seeking customers and from existing fitness band owners looking to upgrade to smartwatches now that they offer a better value proposition," said Dogra. "Wearable vendors should focus on effectively utilizing the data captured by the sensors on these gadgets so that the day-to-day tasks performed by users can be made more straightforward and less time consuming. The role of third-party application developers will be critical in achieving this, so vendors should look to actively engage with the developer community." |