“Consumers have yet to find a reason to justify the cost of a smartwatch, which can sometimes cost as much as a smartphone,” said eMarketer forecasting analyst Cindy Liu. “Instead, for this holiday season, we expect smart speakers to be the gift of choice for many tech enthusiasts, because of their lower price points.”
Next year, eMarketer expects 50.1 million US adults will use some type of wearable device* at least once a month, representing 19.6% of the population. Wearable usage will continue to grow over the forecast period, but the rate will slow to single digits beginning in 2019.
“Any growth that we will see in wearable users will primarily come from new users of smartwatches,” said Liu. “However, the wearables market overall is still dominated by health and fitness trackers. We really haven’t seen a wearable device become the next must-have item. Until then, growth will remain conservative.”