Health Management and Continuous Connection: IDTechEx Covers Wearables

Diversification within the wearable technology industry has been growing over the last few years, with the rise of new devices and technological advances. Beginning with fitness trackers, the wearables industry now incorporates skin patches, smart mouthguards, smart glasses, and headsets, with devices being used in both personal and work environments. IDTechEx's report, "Wearable Sensors Market 2025-2035: Technologies, Trends, Players, Forecasts", explores key features of wearable devices and key players operating within the industry.

 

 

The roles of wearables can be divided into four sectors, according to IDTechEx's report, including sensing, actuating, displaying, and communicating. These capabilities bring about greater possibilities for wearables to provide more convenience to daily life and greater efficiency within busy healthcare sectors. They can also encourage less dependence on pharmaceutical companies, with the self-management of easy-to-use devices.

 

The communication abilities of wearable devices using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or cellular networks can allow for greater societal integration. Smart augmented reality glasses are an example of a device that showcases this possibility, combining the sensing, actuating, and display qualities of wearables to enable real-time societal integration, translating speech seamlessly for those who are hard of hearing.

 

 

 

The desired focus of wearable product development is for them to harness efficiency and continuousness. With data provided in real-time, such as from a smartwatch or glucose monitoring app, time and effort can be saved for consumers. With the goal of many wearables to be comfortable and seamless, data can be taken without interruption for more insightful results. The efficiency of continuous communication between the device and its user is useful not only for consumers, but for overall data collection that can be incorporated into the Internet of Things. In the future, such data could be used to develop and train artificial intelligence for even further technological advancements within the sector.

 

 

The demand for human wellbeing brings great value to the wearables market and creates a greater need for access to personalized healthcare and remote monitoring. Wearables can use sensor technologies to measure biometrics, neural signals, motion, force, and air quality and can provide continuous consumer access to metrics. Activity trackers such as smartwatches that are installed with software to analyze types of motion could be used not only for fitness goals such as daily step counts but for entertainment purposes in virtual reality headsets.

 

Remote patient monitoring is a huge application area for wearable sensors. Cardiac sensing is mostly achieved through optical sensing, which measures heart rate and blood oxygen levels. The miniaturization of such technologies through wearable sensors can allow for the continuity and, therefore, accuracy needed for collecting data on patients and for remote clinical trials. Glucose sensing is another major area of expertise for wearables. Electrochemical test strips and skin patches that use needles to access interstitial fluid have been successfully used for diabetes management for years and again point to the remote patient monitoring abilities of the wearable sensors market. Respiratory rate and blood pressure are also metrics that can be measured and recorded using wearables, with ongoing developments within the market to make devices more accessible and accurate.

 

 

 

While the wearables market sees already well-established form factors, there is scope for functionality development and innovation. Developing newer and more efficient sensor hardware, alongside increasing battery life and reducing power consumption, are some examples of the ways wearable technology could provide reliability and address global demands of security and personal data access. Higher-quality devices and better-performing health applications may be seen as a result, with mass digitalization also increasing the need for connectivity among devices.

 

IDTechEx's report, "Wearable Sensors Market 2025-2035: Technologies, Trends, Players, Forecasts", outlines the readiness of wearable sensor applications, including products that are at early commercialization stages, to products that are already well established within the market. IDTechEx describes 2024 as having been an era of slower growth than was seen in the previous decade with the emergence of smartphones and fitness trackers. AR and VR applications are instead expected to dominate market growth going forward, though they will not become as mainstream just yet.

 

To find out more about this IDTechEx report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/WTSensors.

 

For the full portfolio of wearable technology market research available from IDTechEx, please see www.IDTechEx.com/Research/WT.

IDTechEx provides trusted independent research on emerging technologies and their markets. Since 1999, we have been helping our clients to understand new technologies, their supply chains, market requirements, opportunities and forecasts. For more information, contact research@IDTechEx.com or visit www.IDTechEx.com.