A quarter of new wearable users are dissatisfied with their devices, as vendors fail to meet rising expectations, according to findings from Ericsson’s latest ConsumerLab survey.

The study, which showed that wearable technology adoption is rising, found that consumers are now expecting more from their devices than ever before, and even those that have purchased a device in the past three months “are disappointed with the current generation of wearables”.

Ericsson’s study, which looks into the opinions of 5,000 smartphone users from Brazil, China, the US, UK and South Korea, also found that 10 per cent no longer used their wearable device, with a third of these owners deciding to abandon the device within a couple of weeks.

It is worth noting that 50 per cent of those surveyed own wearable devices, a much higher level than the average.

A common cause for dissatisfaction was a feeling of being tethered to the smartphone, said Ericsson, with 23 per cent of those abandoning their wearable doing so because it didn’t operate as a standalone product or have inbuilt connectivity.

Some 21 per cent said their reason was the devices’ limited functionality and use.

Meanwhile, 83 per cent of all smartphone users’ surveyed expect wearables to have some form of standalone connectivity.

The study did however indicate confidence of a strong long-term future for wearables, with 43 per cent of those surveyed believing that smartphones will be replaced by wearables.

40 per cent of smartwatch users also said they already interact less with their smartphones today.