Updated date as on - Feb 18, 2020

The wearable sensors market was valued at USD 189.4 million in 2015 and is expected to grow to USD 1,654.0 million at a CAGR of 30.14% between 2016 and 2022.

By type, the wearable sensor market for gyroscopes is expected to grow at the highest growth rate during the forecast period

The wearable sensors market for gyroscopes is expected to grow at the highest growth rate during the forecast period. Wearable devices primarily include smartwatches, smart glasses, electronic pedometers, and others. The growth of the wearable electronics market has increased on the back of the demanding lifestyles in developing countries. Therefore, demand for wearable products such as eyewear, wristwear, footwear has gone up. Sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure and force sensors, and medical-based sensors are widely used in all applications of wearable devices.

wearable sensors market By application, the wristwear application sector is expected to hold a major market size during the forecast period

Wearable devices offer a wide range of functionalities from simple features such as monitoring heart rate and calories burned to advanced smart features such as providing data about smell, taste, hearing, and sight. Wristwear accounted for ~50% of the wearable sensors market in 2015. Bodywear is further bifurcated into clothing and inner wear, arm and legwear, smart socks, body-worn cameras, and chest straps.

North America to account for the largest market size during the forecast period.

The growth of the wearable sensors market in North America will be propelled by various factors. One of the most important factors is technological innovations and advances, which result in the introduction of new products. Growing demand from consumers and medical applications have also boosted market growth in North America. Other factors promoting growth include the increasing incidence of chronic diseases.

Market Dynamics

Driver: Miniaturization trend in sensors

Wearable devices such as wristwear, bodywear, and eyewear are increasingly being used in healthcare and consumer infotainment. Over time, wearable products technology has improved steadily, and the devices are becoming smaller. According to the Irish Times (2015), the trend in the wearable ecosystem is slowly moving from �wearables� to �hearables� and by the next decade, wearable devices will be �disappearables.� This implies that the major players in the wearable ecosystem such as Fitbit, Apple, and Garmin are constantly striving to offer high-end innovations in wearable products (such as wearable devices with maximum functionalities and small size).

The miniaturization of sensors using microelectronics has been instrumental in the development of wearable devices. One of the major hurdles in the adoption of sensing technology, especially for wearable electronics, is the size of the sensors. The hardware components gather the physiological and movement data which is suitable for long-term monitoring applications. Companies such as STMicroelectronics, NXP Semiconductors, and Broadcom are the major players investing heavily in R&D. The increasing use of sensors based on MEMS, nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS), and CMOS technologies is also another key market driver.

Restraint: Lack of common standards and interoperability issues

In the current scenario, there are many smart Internet-connected devices in the market and the number is growing rapidly. Standardization is the key requirement to enable efficient communication of sensor information and sensor data. There are some companies that have come up with standards for sensor communication. For instance, the OGC�s Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards meet the requirement for better communication among sensors in the most complex as well as very simple applications. The SWE standards make it easy to integrate this information into thousands of geospatial applications that implement the OGC or other standards. The lack of common standards for sensor communication also creates interoperability issues. Interoperability and easy exchange of information between connected devices are vital for the further growth of wearable ecosystem. Presently, the technical and market scenarios for wearable technology are not much satisfactory in terms of architectural solution or a universal standard to solve the issue of interoperability. To achieve this, efforts such as understanding the role of security and its importance will be required from enterprises, organizations, and developers for a considerable amount of time. Thus, the lack of common standards and interoperability issues restricts the growth of the overall wearable sensors market.

Opportunity: Increasing number of connected devices

In the past five years, a remarkable change has been seen in Internet penetration worldwide. Almost one-third of the world population is using Internet now, at higher bandwidths. This has resulted in increase in number of Internet-enabled smart devices in developing countries. In 2014, worldwide smartphone usage grew at a rate of ~25%. Smartphones are among the widely used portable devices in wearable ecosystem, and they are primarily used for gathering and tracking data related to health and fitness for 0�9 and 60 and above age groups. In addition, wearable technology forms an important segment of platforms such as IoT and M2M and these platforms are the key factors for increasing number of connected devices worldwide.

According to Cisco, in 2003, ~6.3 billion people and nearly 500 million devices were connected to the Internet. By dividing the number of connected devices by the world population, it was analyzed that less than one (0.08) device is used by every person. However, with the increasing focus of customers toward smart devices, this estimate is likely to be ~6.58 devices for a single person by 2020. Therefore, the growing market for platforms such as IoT and M2M is likely to improve the scope of the wearable sensors market between 2016 and 2022.

Challenge: Technical difficulties related to hardware and software

As with many new technologies integrated into one system, wearable devices are witnessing performance issues related to hardware and software that may hamper their widespread adoption. A common concern that a user faces is waterproofing, since sweat or washing can create damaging moisture into the wearable electronics. In addition, the compact size of devices can result in constrained power reserves or small screens and displays. Some of the instances related to hardware issues have already been recorded in the market; for example, in 2011, Jawbone�s UP product experienced circuit board problems that impacted charging, data collection, and, at times, overall function. Thus, the factor related to technical difficulty of hardware and software in wearable devices is a major challenge for the growth of the wearable sensors market.

Scope of the Report

Report Metric Details Market size available for years 2013�2022 Base year considered 2015 Forecast period 2016�2022 Forecast units Million (USD) Segments covered Type, Technology, Application, Vertical and Geography Geographies covered North America, Europe, APAC, RoW (South America, Middle East, and Africa) Companies covered STMicroelectronics N.V. (Switzerland), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), and InvenSense, Inc. (U.S.)

The research report categorizes the Wearable Sensors market to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-segments:<

Wearable Sensors Market, By Type

Accelerometers

Magnetometers

Gyroscopes

Inertial Sensors

Motion Sensors

Pressure & Force Sensors

Temperature & Humidity Sensors

Microphones & Microspeakers

Medical-based Sensors

Image Sensors

Touch Sensors

Other Sensors

Wearable Sensors Market, By Technology

MEMS

CMOS

Other Technologies

Wearable Sensor Market, By Application

Wristwear

Eyewear

Footwear

Neckwear

Bodywear

Other Applications

Wearable Sensors Market, By Vertical

Consumer Goods

Healthcare

Industrial

Other Verticals

Acoustic Wave Sensor Market, By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific (APAC)

RoW

Key Market Players:

STMicroelectronics N.V. (Switzerland), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), and InvenSense, Inc. (U.S.)

NXP Semiconductors is a global semiconductor company that offers mixed signal and standard product solutions for automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer, and computing applications. Its leading positions in multiple markets gives it a competitive advantage over its rivals. It also gives significant bargaining power and equips the company with scale-related advantages. The company has an established position and is the first or second largest player in almost all its product categories with significant market shares. In August 2016, NXP Semiconductors and RioCard introduced contactless wearable for contactless fare collection and payment solutions and for transportation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In March 2015, NXP Semiconductors acquired Freescale for USD 11.8 billion.

Recent Developments:

In October 2016, STMicroelectronics and HMicro, Inc. (U.S.) launched �HC1100�, a single-chip solution for clinical-grade, single-use disposable smart patches and biosensors that can replace wires used in medical sector for vital-sign monitors and electrocardiograms.

In February 2016, NXP launched �Hexiwear� platform, consisting both hardware and software solutions for wearable devices ecosystem. This platform is likely to help the designers of wearable devices to transfer data from device sensors to the cloud..

In May 2015, NXP Semiconductors partnered with Qualcomm Inc. (U.S.) to integrate NXP�s NFC and embedded secure element (eSE) solutions into reference designs for Qualcomm�s Snapdragon platform. This will help meet market demand for consumer applications such as mobile payments and digital identity.

In June 2015, Infineon Technologies and Google (U.S.) collaborated to develop a chipset for wearable devices that can sense hand gestures and movements via radar. Infineon developed the radar sensor chipset and worked with Google to integrate the device in applications such as automotive safety.

In March 2016, Infineon launched the world�s smallest plug-and-play NFC security module for smart wearables. The smallest module of the series measures only 4mm x 4mm. It reduces design efforts for device manufacturers by bundling a high-end Infineon security chip with NFC antenna components and software on smallest printed circuit board (PCB) footprint

Critical questions the report answers:

Where will all these developments take the industry in the long term?

What are the upcoming trends for the Wearable Sensors market?

Which segment provides the most opportunity for growth?

Who are the leading vendors operating in this market?

What are the opportunities for new market entrants?

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