Emerging wearables category smart rings were forecast by analyst house IDC for a boost in coming quarters, with newer players in the area expected to up pressure on major health tracking brands.

In its Q3 wearables shipment update, IDC highlighted growth in the segment was due to the rise of smaller brands and emerging categories, but cited smartwatches and earwear as remaining at the top of the market.

During the quarter, 148.4 million units were shipped globally, growth of 2.6 per cent year-on-year. IDC noted the total was a new high for the third quarter of a year.

Apple led the market with a 20.2 per cent share, though volumes were down 26.7 per cent. Imagine Marketing held a 9.6 per cent share followed by Xiaomi (7.8 per cent). Samsung and Huawei completed the top five.

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Health and fitness tracking has come a long way since the original Fitbits and Pebble watches

Jitesh Ubrani, research manager IDC

Discussing the state of the segment, IDC research manager Jitesh Ubrani said despite some consolidation, it “still has plenty of diversity in terms of brands and form factors”.

“Health and fitness tracking has come a long way since the original Fitbits and Pebble watches, but the greatest driver of wearables has been the emergence of smaller and sleeker designs.”

“Smart rings from newer brands such as Oura, Noise, BoAT, Circular and others are expected to jump-start the new form factor in the coming quarters while also putting pressure on the incumbent brands to innovate on health tracking.”