Are you looking to surprise your special someone with the best wearable in 2018? Then perhaps consider a smartwatch with a fitness tracker. According to industry analyst IDC, global shipments of wearable devices will hit 190 million units by 2022, a five-year compound annual growth rate of 11.0 per cent.
“The transition from basic wearables to smart wearables will continue over the next five years as the two approach parity in terms of market share by 2022,” said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC’s Mobile Device Trackers. “The rise of smart wearables will not just be in mature markets, but also from emerging markets in Asia/Pacific and elsewhere. Japan will play an equally important role as they consume more than one third of all smart wearables.”
As for the year’s biggest smartwatch announcement, the Apple Watch Series 4 has taken the cake compared to the Series 3 specs. The watch is an FDA-approved wearable that can perform electrocardiograms, can monitor heartbeats for irregularities, and then compile them into a PDF ready to be sent to your physician.
The second best smartwatch is the Samsung Galaxy Watch, which contains an embedded SIM will be very helpful to someone who just ran out of phone battery. The watch also comes with built-in side speakers to provide tunes, and has up to 7 days of battery life and wireless charging.
As reported by Forbes, it is predicted that Apple will lead the boom for smartwatches, but of course, Google’s smartwatch platform — Android —is also being forked onto wearable devices globally thanks to its open-source nature.
By: Maytinee Kramer
