The market size has exceeded $36 billion, and the competition for fitness wearables has escalated

Reporter | Wei Qingchao

Wearable devices are becoming a fashion item for fitness enthusiasts, and the fitness field has ushered in a new market trend.

According to the Fortune survey report, the size of the fitness wearable device market has reached $36.3 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 15.4%. It is predicted that the size of this market will exceed $110 billion in 2028.

Emerging markets with huge growth potential have attracted more and more investors' attention. Both start-ups and technology giants are constantly investing in related hardware and software.

Under the influence of the epidemic for a long time, people's attention to health is far greater than before, and wearable devices and related software services have emerged, providing convenient and efficient ways to exercise.

Apple, Amazon, etc. have developed a series of fitness wearable devices and provided corresponding exercise subscription plans, compared with the past, fitness enthusiasts have enjoyed more technological benefits - wearable devices exercise tracking, data collection, timely feedback to make exercise more efficient.

At present, wearable devices mainly include Bluetooth headsets equipped with sensors, sports watches, sports vests, etc., which are the most widely used and have the highest sales volume.

One of the most well-known products is Apple's Apple Watch, the series of products are mostly priced at more than 2,000 yuan, some products are even priced close to 4,000 yuan, the price is not low, but the sales are amazing, and the global sales have exceeded 100 million in early 2021.

According to the current growth curve, Apple Watch sales will officially surpass the Apple Mac in 2022.

Fitness-related functions are an important application direction for Apple Watch

Compared with mobile phones, computers and other products, the design of wearable devices is not complicated, and the technical barriers built by large companies will not have much impact in this segment.

Therefore, many startups, even traditional medical device companies and watch manufacturers, are also eyeing wearable devices.

Keep, the most well-known Internet fitness platform in China, is also in the field of layout hardware, and the sports bracelet is one of the important products released by Keep. Keep bracelet will be combined with the software and services of its own platform to provide users with detailed real-time data and further guidance.

According to Keep's idea, the sports bracelet is not only a hardware product, but also a major entrance to improve the overall user experience.

Huang Jingjing, vice president of Keep, said in an interview: "For us, producing hardware is not just about selling products, we put hardware and content, scenes, and experiences together. Enriching the hardware itself is to enrich the entire experience, which is not an isolated thing, but an integrated consideration from the user experience level. ”

In addition to Keep, Domestic cutting-edge technology companies such as Huawei and Xiaomi have long been widely deployed in wearable devices. In this regard, Huang Jingjing believes that Huawei and Xiaomi have been deeply engaged in hardware for many years and are worthy of respect, which also prompts Keep to continuously improve the level of hardware.

Companies are highly confident in the wearables market and are broadening their application prospects for wearables. Ahmed, founder of health monitoring and wearable company Whooop, believes that wearable devices will make a big difference in the field of health care, and the cure of the disease will shift to the prevention of the disease, and the related costs will be greatly reduced.

In addition, Ahmed is also actively promoting the company's cooperation with professional sports leagues and athletes, collecting athletes' competition data and showing it to sports fans.

Technological progress has brought more entertainment methods to people, so traditional sports are facing great challenges, and the use of wearable devices at the professional sports level will help create a new fan experience.

For fitness wearables, multi-faceted exploration is necessary. At present, the market reputation, excellent quality wearable devices, its price is not low, if only focus on motion monitoring, wearable devices are not cost-effective, the overall market will not be too broad.

Therefore, all manufacturers are constantly broadening product capabilities and looking for new ways to apply devices, in addition to contacting professional sports, companies are also committed to launching personalized customization, social functions and so on.

The prospect of the fitness wearable device market has been confirmed, and rapid growth in the next few years is an inevitable trend; and in the longer term, expanding hardware functions and discovering new application methods will continue to be an important condition for its market potential to continue to increase.