Connected clothing to overtake smartwatches in popularity stakes

Smartwatches may be what immediately springs to mind when wearable technology is talked about, but sales of these products are set to be overwhelmingly overtaken by those of connected clothing in the next two years.

This is according to new data from Juniper Research, which believes the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for connected clothing will be 102 per cent between now and 2020. 

Meanwhile, the CAGR for smartwatches is expected to be just 31 per cent, with this segment of the wearables market also set to be overtaken by smart glasses, with their estimated CAGR of 98 per cent, and smart jewellery (55 per cent).

It is also anticipated that 'hearables' will grow in popularity over the next two years, at the same rate as smartwatches (31 per cent).

Overall, wearable technology is expected to be in particularly high demand in the healthcare sector, with the field's spending in this area on course to reach more than $2.5 billion (£1.7 billion) by 2020.