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By 2022, today's smartwatches will seem 'quaint,' predicts IDC

The market researcher also sees VR and AR as likely to take off by 2022.

Marrian Zhou Staff Reporter
Marrian Zhou is a Beijing-born Californian living in New York City. She joined CNET as a staff reporter upon graduation from Columbia Journalism School. When Marrian is not reporting, she is probably binge watching, playing saxophone or eating hot pot.
Marrian Zhou
Apple Watch Series 3, seen from the side.

Smartwatches will account for 44.6 percent of all wearables shipped by the end of 2022, said IDC.

James Martin/CNET

Are you all about gadgets ? Are you into wearables? Then the next few years might be very exciting for you.

Health and fitness are at the heart of smartwatches nowadays. But with rapid developments in cellular connectivity, especially 5G, and integration with more internet-of-things devices, IDC predicts that upcoming smartwatches will be all about making your life more efficient.

"The smartwatches of 2022, even 2020, will make today's smartwatches seem quaint," said Ramon Llamas, research director for IDC's wearables team, in a release Tuesday. "The smartwatch market is heading for steady growth in the years to come."

Smartwatches will account for 44.6 percent of all wearables shipped by the end of 2022, said IDC. Apple smartwatches will lead with a 17.3 percent share in 2022, followed by watches powered by Google's Wear OS with 9.8 percent of the market. Other types of wearables such as "earwear" and connected clothing will also become more popular over the next four years.

Also on Tuesday, IDC forecast that the overall market for augmented reality and virtual reality headsets will grow to 8.9 million units by end of this year, and will reach 65.9 million units by 2022.

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