Hybrid smartwatches will make up 40% of total sales in five years

Looks like Fossil et al are on the right track
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Hybrid smartwatches, you know - the ones with no digital screen, will account for almost 40% of all smartwatch sales within the next five years.

That's according to Juniper Research's latest report, Smartwatches: Trends, Vendor Strategies & Forecasts 2017 - 2021, which says that multifunction smartwatches - the Apple Watches, Samsung Gear S3 and Android Wear watches - are the most "visible" but the market has consolidated.

Pebble and Vector have been acquired by Fitbit and there's no room for the likes of Motorola and Huawei.

Read this: The best hybrid smartwatches for 2017

It forecasts just 60 million smartwatch sales for 2021 (revised down) but says that smart analogue hybrids will make up nearly 40% of the market value within five years, up from the current 30%.

We placed designer hybrids pretty high in our list of predictions for how 2017 will play out and also investigated whether this category could save Fossil financially.

Juniper names Apple, Fitbit, Samsung, Tag Heuer and Fossil as the initial winners in both smartwatches with screens and hybrids. We'd also add the Nokia-owned Withings and the Swiss cohort of Mondaine, Frederique Constant though none will trouble the big tech companies and watchmakers.

Do you own a hybrid watch? What do you want to see next for these devices?

Hybrid smartwatches will make up 40% of total sales in five years


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Sophie was Wareable's associate editor. She joined the team from Stuff magazine where she was an in-house reviewer. For three and a half years, she tested every smartphone, tablet, and robot vacuum that mattered. 

A fan of thoughtful design, innovative apps, and that Spike Jonze film, she is currently wondering how many fitness tracker reviews it will take to get her fit. Current bet: 19.

Sophie has also written for a host of sites, including Metro, the Evening Standard, the Times, the Telegraph, Little White Lies, the Press Association and the Debrief.

She now works for Wired.


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