Google’s own line of smartwatches, named the Android Wear, is seen to gain further ground in terms of popularity as market researcher IDC forecasts. We are now in the middle of the decade and, before it rolls to an end, the battle between smartwatches will be at its fiercest. The Apple Watch and Google’s contender for their own smartwatch line has been going at it relentlessly.
The shift in popularity is seen as more and more people are getting accustomed to wearing smartwatches. It is also seen that many are ditching their old analogue and digital watches with Google’s or Apple’s own lineup of timepieces that are chockfull of features.
Google’s Android Wear Seen to Rise as Popularity for Wearing Smartwatches Surges Forth
For the year 2015, the International Data Corp. (IDC) forecasts that there will be a wide spread domination for both the Apple Watch and the Android Wear lines. Currently, Apple’s contender is dominating the market with its Apple Watch with its WatchOS software. On this year, there would already be an approximate 13.9 million shipments for the Apple Watch, along with 58.3 percent of the shares from the consumer sales of the watch.
Google’s Android Wear, on the other hand, can be found on a number of different smartwatches unlike what Apple had done with their own timepiece. Motorola’s Moto 360 is included into the mix and also the LG Watch Urbane. Statistics show that all those devices only amount to 4.1 million shipments and 17.4 percent market share. Seeing these numbers, Apple still dominates the market with their Apple Watch even though Google has its operating system installed in a number of different smartwatches.
However, Apple’s reign over the “smartwatch war” may not be for long. By 2019, it is forecasted that Apple’s market shares will have dipped below its halfway point. The perceived numbers will be 47.3 percent on shipments of 40.3 million devices said IDC. However, the story is different on the Android’s side. For Google’s line of smartwatches, their current numbers will rise 38.4 percent due to the 32.6 million units to be shipped.
Other smart-wearables, and not just the Google Android Wear devices, are still doing good behind leaders. One such notable contender is the Pebble, in which IDC sees a slight rise in its sales and shipments come 2019. Samsung’s Tizen, the South Korean company’s own line of smartwatches, is seen to rise up to 1.8 million units for a 2.2 percent market share before the decade will end.