Asia Pacific Smart Watch Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Asia Pacific Smart Watch Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Asia Pacific smartwatches market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.89% during the forecast period. The growing consumer electronics industry, coupled with a rapid rise of smartwatch market vendors across the region's emerging economies, is contributing to the growth of the studied market.

Key Highlights

• An increasing tech-savvy population, a growing pool of chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, and rising awareness and shift of lifestyle toward a healthy and fit lifestyle among the population are driving the market growth.
• Currently, more than 135 million individuals in India are affected by obesity in India. The prevalence of obesity in India is varying from rural to urban and state-wise. Urban populations and states with high socioeconomic status were found to be having higher obesity prevalence. While in China, more than 500 million are affected by obesity because of the country's rapid economic growth in recent decades, leading to significant changes to lifestyle, diet, and exercise habits. Due to this, most people are adopting fitness trackers and smartwatches to monitor health and fitness levels.
• The ongoing investment in the research department by the major vendors across the region is contributing to innovation in recent years, which is instrumental, thereby driving the demand for the smartwatch market to augment public safety measures by the department of police and other public safety organizations.
• The economy of the region is not as strong as other regions such as Europe and North America, and the consumers would consider investing in smartwatches as a huge initial cost with the costs being higher with the components integrated with these watches like various sensors, chips, etc., being expensive and thereby increasing the overall cost of the product.
• Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the electronics industry is hit severely with a significant influence on its supply chain and production facilities. The production came to stand still in China and Taiwan during February and March, which influenced various OEMs across the globe.​ However, on a positive side, the demand for wearable device is expected to rise due to their adoption to detect the signs of the virus.
• In May 2020, IIT Madras incubated startup Muse Wearables is developing a wrist-based tracker with skin temperature, heart rate and SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation) sensing which can continuously track these body vitals remotely that will help in early diagnosis of COVID-19 symptoms.​

Key Market TrendsIncreasing Internet Penetration in the Asia Pacific is Expected to Drive the Studied Market

• The strong economic growth in the Asian countries, coupled with the collapse of socialist ideologies regarding the control of information, has led to explosive penetration of the internet in the region.
• As of December 2020, the number of people using the internet in China reached 989 million, an increase of 85.4 million from the end of March. Around 782 million Chinese people shopped online primarily on their phones which is an increase of 72.15 million from March when the pandemic erupted, and live-streaming shoppers more than tripled from 123 million in March to 388 million in December, according to a report published by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on internet development in China.
• This is expected to drive the sales of the smartwatch in the country as most of these devices now offer separate payment applications to ease digital payment. For instance, Apple smartwatches have Apple Pay, which enables users to make payments straight from the wrist quickly and securely.
• In addition to that, many international vendors are partnering with financial institutions to launch their services in Asian countries. For instance, Apple Pay has partnered with China UnionPay, a state-run company that is the country's only bank-card issuer, to bring Apple Pay to the People's Republic of China (PRC). The users can add a transit card to their Apple Watch and use Express Transit with Apple Pay for public transport in China mainland.
• Fitbit Versa 2, for instance, offers built-in Alexa allowing users to take the help of Alexa with several tasks; this is one of the distinguishing features of the Fitbit offerings. With such vendors in the market combined, the other operating systems segment holds a prominent share of the market and caters to a niche market on customer specifications as well.

Medical to Witness Significant Market Growth

• According to Asian Development Bank, Asia's elderly population is projected to reach nearly 923 million by the middle of this century. As a result, the region is on track in the next few decades to become one of the oldest in the world.
• Diabetes is a rapidly growing health challenge among Asians and Pacific Islanders who have immigrated to the United States, affecting about 20 percent of Asian Americans; about 90 to 95 percent of Asians with diabetes have type 2 diabetes (source: OECD).
• Smartwatches could soon be capable of measuring blood sugar, blood pressure, blood alcohol and hydration levels. The innovations come courtesy of Rockley Photonics, which has announced a biometric sensor that is small enough to fit within a smartwatch chassis.
• Further, K'Watch Glucose is a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) device that will track the glucose level continuously throughout the day and night. It check the sugar levels discreetly by simply glancing at the watch. The glucose trend and history graphs will help to improve glucose level control.
• Various vendors in the market are also investing in developing sensors that can measure various other irregularities in real-time and save a customer from many tests and checkups. For instance, in May 2020, Samsung introduced ECG monitoring for Galaxy Watch Active 2. The function has been cleared with the South Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The feature uses advanced sensor technology on the Galaxy Watch Active2 and will enable users to measure and analyze their heart rhythm for irregularities indicating Atrial Fibrillation​.

Competitive Landscape

The Asia Pacific smartwatch market is concentrated due to higher initial investments. It is dominated by a few major players like Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, Zepp Health, Xiaomi Corporation, Apple Inc, and Fitbit Inc. These significant players, with a prominent share in the market, are focusing on expanding their customer base across foreign countries. These companies are leveraging strategic collaborative initiatives to increase their market share and increase their profitability. However, with technological advancements and product innovations, mid-size to smaller companies are growing their market presence by securing new contracts and tapping new markets.

• July 2021 - Zepp Health announced a new generation of smart wearable chip Huangshan 2s. The Huangshan 2s, compared to its predecessor, the Huangshan 2, reduces operating power consumption by 56% and dormant power consumption by 93% and improved graphics performance by 67%. The Huangshan 2s is a wearable AI processor that employs a dual-core RISC-V instruction set architecture. The product offers a non-invasive and sleeveless blood pressure measurement system on Amazfit smartwatches using optical sensors.
• September 2020 - The government of Singapore and Apple has announced their partnership on the health initiative LumiHealth, a personalized program to encourage healthy activity and behaviors using Apple Watch. LumiHealth uses technology and behavioral insights to encourage Singaporeans to keep healthy and complete wellness challenges through their Apple Watch and iPhone.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

IBM Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Internap Corporation
Packet Inc. (An Equinix Inc. Company)
Scaleway Inc.
Amazon Web Services Inc
Rackspace Inc.
CenturyLink, Inc.
LightEdge Solutions, Inc

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