ASPs in Wearables Rising at Faster Rate Than Unit Growth, Says Futuresource

Industry shipped nearly 105 million units of wearables globally in 2018, a 10 percent increase from 2017kiiiiilo, reported Futuresource Consulting Monday. Average selling prices are rising at a faster rate than unit growth on increasing demand for upscale smartwatches and the “parallel stagnation” of lower-priced activity trackers and sports watches, it said. Google’s recent $40 million buy of Fossil’s smartwatch patents (see 1901170054) leaves "the market anticipating a hardware release from Google or potential revamp of its Wear OS platform,” said Futuresource. It expects wearables shipments to exceed 145 million worldwide in 2022, driven "predominantly by replacement sales and the ongoing uptake of smartwatches and wireless watches.”