Connected health has become mainstream – with smart watches leading the way.

Smart watches have become common to many consumers, for tracking overall health and wellness, providing valued connectivity and productivity tools, and offering potentially life-saving safety functions. The market is undergoing a period of terrific growth and change, with a focus on more powerful and performing higher-end devices.

Consumers and the industry have different definitions for what constitutes wearables categories. Many consumers do not define wearables product types according to industry terminology. Instead, a sizable number define categories based on brands – many identify the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch as “smart watches” and devices from Fitbit as “fitness trackers.” Garmin is widely considered to define the “GPS sports watch” category alongside Suunto and Polar.

Parks Associates has determined a categorization of brands and models based on device capabilities and brand marketing. Heads of households self-reported the brand and model of personally owned wearable, and devices were categorized according to this schema.

• Smart Watches – wearables with access to an app store and the ability to download apps,
• Fitness Trackers – wearables without access to an app store, and no onboard GPS
• GPS Sports Watches – wearables with onboard GPS, marketed to athletes/outdoors enthusiasts.

Current Adoption of Wearables

The connected health market now reaches over half of US broadband households; more consumers own a device than do not own a device. Parks Associates' latest consumer data shows adoption of smart watches grew from 16% in 2020 to 29% in 2021.  

• 17% of US broadband households now own an Apple Watch
• 7% now own a Samsung wearable

Smart watch owners are particularly likely to own and use other connected health products, with these consumers reporting owning an average of 6.8 devices including their smart watch.

The adoption of wearables leads the connected health category, with smart watches the number one most adopted product overall. Smart watch owners are a particularly enthusiastic core segment of the connected health market, owning a variety of other products such as connected fitness devices, connected weight scales, smart thermometers, and other devices.

This excerpt of research is authored by Parks Associates Research Director, Kristen Hanich, from the published study: Smart Watches and Wearables Market Assessment.

Smart Product Market Assessments provide a comprehensive and thorough analysis of a single smart product market. Parks Associates analysts identify key markets drivers and barriers and assess market growth via topline market forecasts.

This research includes consumer data for smart watches and fitness trackers, including trending data across years and deep dive questions on product usage, pain points, and preferences. Parks Associates surveys 10,000 U.S broadband households every quarter, with additional surveys throughout the year. The survey results represent the national demographics for US broadband households, which are 88% of all US households.   © Parks Associates