Wearable tech sales to top 50 million by the end of the year

Another week and yet another analyst forecast predicting a huge surge in wearable technology sales - this time with Futuresource Consulting stating that total global wearable shipments will hit 52 million by the end of 2014.

That number is much larger than the one stated in a report earlier this month from Juniper Research, which predicted an increase from 27 million device shipments in 2014 to 116 million by 2017.

However, like the numbers that Samsung crunched last week, we can be sure we're looking at a huge Christmas boom for wearable tech sales.

"Q4 is where we're going to see all the action, with annual sales heavily weighted towards the pre-Christmas period," explained Oliver Rowntree, market analyst at Futuresource. "We're expecting 39% of this year's activity to drop into Q4, as wearable tech provides an appealing gifting option for consumers."

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The new report, like the Juniper one that predicted 100 million smartwatches worldwide by 2019, also forecasts a massive growth in the hi-tech timepiece genre.

"Looking out even further, we're anticipating further acceleration in the pace of growth in 2015 as smartwatches become more widely adopted, with a 44% growth rate driving the market to 74 million units shipped next year," added Rowntree.

"We expect connected watches - incorporating smartwatches and wireless watches - to experience extremely strong growth over the forecast period, reaching 83 million unit shipments in total by 2018."

The Apple Watch is one reason for this, and the Fitbit Surge is also slated for an early 2015 release.

And then, of course, there's Android Wear. With six devices announced packing Google's smartwatch OS in less than nine months, we image this number will at least double by the end of next year.

Be sure to keep checking Wareable for all the big wearable tech launch news and review.