Canalys, an independent analyst company said in the release of its recent report that wearable band shipments will grow 129% year on year to reach 43.2 million units in 2015. Of these shipments, 28.2 million will be smart bands and the remaining 15.0 million will be basic bands, said Canalys.
Canalys which defines smart bands as bands which are capable of running third-party applications and basic bands, which are not, forecasts that Apple will make up the majority of smart band shipments for next year. According to Canalys, with increasing number of applications that cater for health and fitness monitoring, navigation and even mobile payments being offered on the smart bands, more people are expected to purchase these new wearables especially when the prices come down thanks to the entry of low-cost vendors such as Xiaomi (with its Mi Band) in certain markets.
"By creating a new user interface tailored to its tiny display, Apple has a produced a smart watch that mass-market consumers will actually want to wear. The sleek software, variety of designs and reasonable entry price make for a compelling new product. Apple must still prove, however, that the final product will deliver adequate battery life for consumers.
- Daniel Matte, Analyst, Canalys
"The basic band vendors, such as Fitbit and Jawbone, will enjoy the advantages of their lower pricing for the immediate future. Eventually, however, stronger smart band competitors to the Apple Watch will likely emerge and push smart band pricing down, threatening the basic bands. This market will undergo disruption similar to that suffered by feature phones when smart phone prices fell."
- Chris Jones, VP and Principal Analyst, Canalys