New data on wearables' popularity and shipments both say Apple Watch hasn't fallen far from the tree. Like the iPhone before it, this smart watch looks to be one top for the rest of the decade.
The wearables market went supernova this year, with shipments for devices such smart watches and fitness trackers growing byroughly 200%, over 2014, IDC reports. That equates to 80 million wearables this year, and next year could hit 111 million.
"Smartwatch platforms will lead the evolution," says Ramon Llamas , Research Manager for IDC's Wearables team. "As the brains of the smartwatch, platforms manage all the tasks and processes, not the least of which are interacting with the user, running all of the applications, and connecting with the smartphone. Once that third element is replaced with cellular connectivity, the first two elements will take on greater roles to make sense of all the data and connections."