UK Smartwatches and Wearable Technology Market Report 2024
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Report Summary
The smartwatch market continues to grow, but at a slower rate than in the previous years. Future growth is likely tempered by a flattening out of demand, as consumers’ satisfaction with devices means replacements will drive upgrades. Consumer discretionary spending capacity on technology devices will continue to be pressured, with people prioritising essential devices such as computers and phones, over more niche lines such as wearable technology.
48% of consumers say monitoring health metrics makes you more stressed about your health, rising to 57% of people who own smartwatches. With this in mind, there will be a balancing act for brands to play to maintain equilibrium in monitoring health metrics. Over monitoring could create the adverse effect of leaving consumers overwhelmed and overloaded with information that could increase health anxiety.
While ownership of niche wearables, such as smart rings, is still modest, ownership has more than doubled in the past couple of years. With major tech brands such as Samsung launching its Galaxy Ring in 2024, and Apple rumoured to be developing in the area, smart rings will increase in popularity over the next five years.
This report looks at the following areas:
- The size of the smartwatches and fitness trackers market and how it is expected to perform in the next five years
- Competitive strategies and launch activities of companies operating in the smartwatch and wearable technology market
- Consumer awareness, usage and perceptions of wearable technology brands
- Consumer brand ownership by segment and attitudes towards smartwatches and wearable technology
- How satisfied consumers are with their smartwatch brand, and the factors that drive satisfaction levels
- Consumer attitudes towards the future of wearable technologies, including the opportunities surrounding sharing health metric data with GPs and brands
Growth in smartwatch ownership is slow with the market mainly focused on upgrades and replacements. A wider range of designs could help encourage some non-owners.
Joe Birch, Senior Technology and Leisure Analyst
Market Definitions
For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
The term ‘wearable technology’ (also referred to as ‘wearable devices’ or ‘wearables’) in this Report refers to a category of technology devices that can be worn on the body, either as an accessory or item of clothing.
The definition encompasses smartwatches, fitness bands, GPS watches, wearable cameras, smart clothing, smart jewellery, smart glasses and smart earbuds. Although virtual reality (VR) headsets could be considered items of wearable technology, they are not included in the definition for this Report.
The terms ‘fitness bands’ and ‘fitness trackers’ are used interchangeably and refer to wrist-worn devices that are focused on tracking health, wellbeing and exercise.
The term ‘smartwatch’ refers to a device that offers the features of a sports watch but also supports app downloads.
Mintel market size estimates only cover fitness bands and smartwatches.
This Report only covers the UK consumer market for wearable technology. B2B (business-to-business) sales are excluded from market data, and analysis refers only to trends in the consumer market unless stated otherwise.
Table of Contents
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Executive Summary
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Overview
- Opportunities for the wearable technology market
- Prioritise cross compatibility and convenience to boost engagement and competition
- In the age of brand entrenchment, challenger brands need to carve out a niche
- Accuracy of measurement is crucial, but a balancing act of monitoring health data is required
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Market predictions
- Market value to maintain steady through to 2029
- Wearable tech moves towards being mainstream
- Graph 1: use of and interest in new technologies, 2024
- Smartphone dominance has given Apple and Samsung a clear advantage in smartwatches
- Graph 2: smartwatch brands, 2024
- Graph 3: fitness band brands, 2024
- Brand is the key selling point in smartwatch purchasing
- Graph 4: most important factor when buying a smartwatch, 2024
- Ultra fast mobile and broadband networks will become commonplace in the next 10 years
- Graph 5: average fixed broadband data use per month in GB, 2013-23
- What consumers want and why
- Promote smartwatches’ ability to support female wellbeing through the menopause
- Graph 6: smartwatch ownership, by age and gender, 2024
- Focus on less intrusive sleep tracking upside of smart rings
- Graph 7: ownership of wearable technology, 2024
- Health and wellbeing drive smartwatch activity
- Graph 8: smartwatch functions used, 2024
- Understand consumers’ health goals and suggest activities to boost engagement
- Graph 9: exercise tracking on smartwatches, 2024
- Smartwatch satisfaction is generally high but there remains room for improvement in several areas
- Graph 10: smartwatch satisfaction by feature, 2024
- Cross compatibility of devices, integration with device ecosystem and aesthetic appeal will boost wearables utility
- Graph 11: attitudes towards wearable technology, 2024
- Innovation and marketing
- Apple launches thinnest Watch with upgraded health features
- Smartwatch brands go bigger, brighter and more advanced
- Samsung aims to be lord of the rings
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Market Dynamics
- Market size
- 2023 sees smartwatches and fitness tracker market consolidate 2022’s growth
- Graph 12: value of the market for smartwatches and fitness bands, 2019-23
- Market forecast
- Market value to maintain steady growth through to 2029
- Technology advancements in components, critical infrastructure and high engagement in health will power market’s growth
- Market share
- Importance of brand ecosystem sees smartwatches follow the smartphone market
- Smartphone dominance has given Apple and Samsung a clear advantage in smartwatches
- Graph 13: fitness band brands, 2024
- Graph 14: smartwatch brands, 2024
- Apple benefits from dominance in other tech categories
- Graph 15: ownership of smartwatches, by generation, 2024
- Fitbit’s focus on fitness trackers will see it continue to dominate the segment
- Graph 16: fitness band ownership by age, 2024
- Market drivers
- Consumer sentiment has improved, but the cost-of-living crisis is a real concern for nearly half
- Graph 17: financial wellbeing index, 2016-24
- Mobile speeds and data use continue to rise
- Graph 18: mobile data traffic by technology, 2020-23
- Graph 19: average monthly data volume by mobile user, 2014-22
- Ultra fast networks will become commonplace in the next 10 years
- Graph 20: average fixed broadband data use per month in GB, 2013-23
- Personal technology ownership centres around phones and computers
- Graph 21: personal ownership of technology products, 2024
- Wearable tech moves towards being mainstream
- Graph 22: use of and interest in new technologies, 2024
- Brand is the key selling point in smartwatch purchasing
- Graph 23: most important factor when buying a smartwatch, 2024
- The appeal of wearables will continue to centre around health
- Graph 24: causes of stress in the last 12 months, 2023
- Consumers recognise the benefits of monitoring their health
- Graph 25: attitudes towards the future of technology, 2024
- Wearable tech to play its part, in offering joined up solutions to combat childhood obesity
- Graph 26: prevalence of overweight or obese children in England, by year group, 2016/17-2021/22
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What Consumers Want and Why
- Wearable technology ownership
- Promote smartwatches ability to support female wellbeing through the menopause
- Graph 27: smartwatch ownership, by age and gender, 2024
- Smartwatch ownership skews to higher income households
- Graph 28: ownership of smartwatches and fitness bands, by household income, 2024
- Focus on less intrusive sleep tracking upside of smart rings
- Graph 29: ownership of wearable technology, 2024
- Smart glasses are focused on a young, technologically engaged market
- Earbuds look set to benefit from enhanced utility
- Smartwatch functions
- Health and wellbeing drive smartwatch activity
- Graph 30: smartwatch functions used, 2024
- Support consumers in their healthy lifestyle journey
- Look at tie-ups with artists on bespoke lines of smartwatches
- Exercise and health features continue to dominate smartwatch use
- Younger consumers are driving contactless payments via smartwatch
- Graph 31: use of smartwatch to make contactless payments, by generation, 2024
- Feature laden smartwatches can appeal to the affluent, whilst there is still space for basic trackers
- Graph 32: functions used on a smartwatch, by repertoire of functions used on a smartwatch, 2024
- Exercise features
- Understand consumers’ health goals and suggest activities to boost engagement
- Graph 33: exercise tracking on smartwatches, 2024
- Give visibility to the mundane to give consumers an overview of incremental gains
- Younger consumers use the most exercise functions on a smartwatch
- Graph 34: repertoire of types of exercise function used on smartwatch, by age, 2024
- Prioritise cross compatibility to boost engagement and competition
- Smartwatch satisfaction
- Smartwatch owners are highly satisfied with their devices
- Smartwatch satisfaction is generally high but there remains room for improvement in several areas
- Graph 35: smartwatch satisfaction by feature, 2024
- Incremental gains to be found in promoting accuracy
- In the age of brand entrenchment, challenger brands need to carve out a niche
- Graph 36: overall smartwatch satisfaction, 2024
- Monetise loyalty by creating bundles, subscriptions and new release exclusives
- Key driver analysis of smartwatch satisfaction
- Comfort and appearance drive satisfaction with amongst smartwatch owners
- Graph 37: overall satisfaction with smartwatch, key driver output, 2024
- Boost app integration on smartwatch to appeal
- Guide those less tech savvy to see the upside of smartwatches
- Attitudes towards wearable technology
- Cross compatibility is key to allow users to seamlessly share exercise data with friends
- Smartwatch owners are more positive about the health upsides of smartwatches on their health…
- Graph 38: attitudes towards wearable technology, 2024
- …but also their downsides
- Graph 39: attitudes towards wearable technology, 2024
- Encourage fun, competitive side of consumers with smartwatch challenges
- Graph 40: attitudes towards wearable technology, 2024
- Focus on interoperability of wearable tech with big tech ecosystems
- Graph 41: attitudes towards wearable technology, 2024
- Brand ecosystems matter less for older consumers
- Graph 42: agreement with the statement “it is important to have the same brand of wearable technology as other devices you own”, 2024
- Aesthetic appeal pushes smartwatch purchases
- Graph 43: attitudes towards wearable technology, 2024
- Place convenience at the heart of smart technology
- Graph 44: attitudes towards wearable technology, 2024
- A third of people say the appearance of wearable technology is the most important purchase factor
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Competitive strategies and Launch Activity
- Brighter, bolder and better battery life: brands focus on iterative improvements to their smartwatch line-ups
- Apple launches thinnest Watch with upgraded health features
- Apple previews new Watch operating system
- Google goes bigger and brighter with Pixel Watch 3
- Google owned Fitbit will focus on trackers
- Garmin dives deeper to appeal to outdoor enthusiasts
- Huawei focuses on data accuracy in new TruSense System
- Brands focus on new lightweight glasses
- Lightweight headsets can overcome usability issues
- Smart rings start to see major tech investment
- Samsung aims to be lord of the rings
- Oura launches new AI health companion and features to monitor stress and resilience
- Google brings Gemini to lighter, thinner Pixel Buds Pro 2
- Apple focuses on hearing health with new Air Pods 2 launch
- High end audio, auracast integration and budget options cater to diverse budgets and needs
- The future of wearable technology
- Sensors, clothing and screenless tech will help wearables evolve
- Meta primes its full holographic glasses and neural wristband prototypes
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Advertising and Marketing Activity
- Wearable tech ad-spend drops
- Graph 45: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising on wearable technology, 2019-24
- Fitness tracker advertising spend dips
- Graph 46: above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising on wearable technology, by category, 2019-24
- Apple leads spend in wearable technology space
- Apple promotes smartwatch and iPhone integration
- Argos focuses on value with Samsung Galaxy watches sale
- Whoop fitness tracker adverts cater to the obsessed fitness fanatic.
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Brand Research
- Fitbit facing increasing pressure from Apple Watch
- Room to improve trust in Apple Watch
- Graph 47: attitudes towards and usage of selected wearable technology brands, 2024
- Samsung and Apple set the standard for quality and value
- Google Pixel and Fitbit are challenged to bring the fun
- Apple Watch seen as stylish but not user-friendly
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Appendix
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Market forecast and prediction intervals (value)
- Forecast methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Methodology
- Consumer research methodology
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
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