The market for next generation wearables is growing quickly as the technology is becoming more sophisticated, according to a new report from NetworkNews Wire.
The report said that the global wearables market is in the end phase of long-term growth that has seen it grow from $116.2 billion in 2021 to $265.4 billion by next year.
The next phase are artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled, touch-free, intuitive wearables that don’t require a screen interface.
Things seem to be changing and evolving rapidly. “As a growing number of sectors ranging from extended reality (ER) and augmented reality (AR) to enterprise computing adopt gesture-based systems, the neural interface market is undergoing rapid growth,” the report says.
The report focuses on Wearable Devices Ltd. as the key player in the wearables evolution. It offers two products: the Mudra Band is an Apple Watch accessory that enables intuitive gesture control and the Mudra Link is a cross-platform solution that gives users seamless interaction across multiple ecosystems.
Important players also include Vuzix (Vuzix LX1 smart glasses); Nvidia (AI and edge computing); Qualcomm (the Snapdragon W5+, Gen 2 and W5 Gen 2 wearable platforms); and Roblox (XR and metaverse ecosystems).
Other signs of progress in the wearables market are recent moves by Apple and Meta, the report said. Apple has filed for patents that involve gesture recognition and spatial computing, and Meta’s Reality Labs has introduced a wearable that could replace a keyboard and mouse by using surface electromyography (sEMG) to detect electrical signals from the wrist muscles to control digital interactions.
It hasn’t been a smooth ride for wearables as the category sought to evolve from science fiction technology with narrow real-world applications to a mainstream category. The COVID-19 pandemic likely made this even more difficult. In June, 2023, a report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) said that worldwide shipments of wearables would likely rebound to 504.1 million units, after declining for the first time ever in the year before.
