Smartwatches to drive wearables market in 2017

The demand for wearable technology is set to increase 16.7 per cent in 2017 and 310.4 million such devices will be sold globally, market research firm Gartner said on Thursday.

The wearable devices market would generate a revenue of $30.5 billion in 2017. Smartwatches would continue to drive the wearables market and would generate a revenue of $9.3 billion.

Apple would dominate the smartwatch market but its market share will decrease from approximately a third in 2016 to a quarter in 2021, the report said.

"Smartwatches are on pace to achieve the greatest revenue potential among all wearables through 2021, reaching $17.4 billion," said Angela McIntyre, Research Director at Gartner, in a statement.

Revenue from smartwatches is bolstered by relatively stable average selling prices (ASPs) of Apple Watch.

Apple is expected to launch its new smartwatch in September that could enable direct cellular connectivity for interacting with its smart assistant Siri, texting and transferring sensor data when the phone or Wi-Fi is not present.

Other brands such as Asus, Huawei, LG, Samsung and Sony would sell only 15 per cent smartwatches in 2021.