Gartner predicts wearables market could shrink next year, despite Apple Watch release

Samsung and Motorola have claimed top positions in the smartwatch market, while the overall wearables market could shrink next year, according to two reports released in the past week by Canalys and Gartner.

The Canalys figures show just five million smartwatches and smart bands were shipped in the third quarter of this year, despite a 37% quarter-on-quarter increase in sales, with Android Wear devices making up 15% of the market.

Samsung claims 52% of the smartwatch market, ahead of Motorola (15%) and Pebble, with others (including LG and Sony) claiming 21%. Fitbit and Jawbone are the two largest fitness band makers.

Meanwhile, Gartner has published figures suggesting the total wearables market, including wristbands, smart watches, chest straps and other fitness monitors could shrink next year.

Its figures forecast the total market shrinking from 70.2 million units in 2014 to 68.1 million in 2015, before rebounding in 2016 to 91.3 million units, despite the release of the Apple Watch.

According to the forecast, the growth of smartwatches (from 18 million in 2014 to 21 million in 2015) will be smaller than the slump in sales for fitness bands (20 million to 17 million) and other fitness monitors (20 million to 12 million).