Wearable Fitness Technology
Wearable fitness technology is one of the fastest-growing technologies in the world. That’s why, many big tech companies have produced fitness wristbands, smartwatches, smart footwear, and headphones. But the most popular are wearable headphones or earbuds, and fitness activity trackers.
Fitness activity trackers started with with a simple pedometer, heart monitor and calorie counter. They revolutionized the guidance of preventative medicine. In 2020, over 21% of adults use fitness tracking devices. Fitness activity trackers generate data from the wearer and sync them to a smart device. These smart devices monitor your activities and track your overall health. They show your heart rate, step counts, calories burned, and sleep, among others and does the journaling for you. Therefore, this new technology cuts down the cost of having to visit health care about some of your fitness issues.
To understand wearable fitness technology further, we’ve summarized some of the sensors these trackers made use of. Wearable fitness technology uses the following electronic activity sensors:
- A pedometer that measures the steps taken in a day. It also covers the distance through the hand or hips’ movement.
- A 3-axis accelerometer (MEMS). This measures the acceleration of the body. It’s adequate for running.
- An altimeter measures height which is useful for stairs or mountain climbing.
- A gyroscope that measures the three-dimensional (3D) motion of the body.
- Electrocardiography (ECG) measures heart health. It can determine sleeping and active time. Plus, it helps identify any heart conditions such as atrial fibrillation (Afib). Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is a severe medical condition that causes a stroke.
These are just a few of the basic features in almost all wearable devices. However, sophisticated fitness trackers have more sensors.
The wearable fitness technology market
According to the International Data Corporation (ICD), the global wearable fitness technology market peaked at a new height of 84.5 million devices in the third quarter of 2019. Remarkably, this was 94.6% up from the third quarter of 2019. New wearable fitness technology in headphones/earbuds contributed to the rise in demand. Recently, fitness headphones value about half the market.
Wristbands and smartwatches alike brought wearable fitness technology even further. People worldwide embraced this new product and saw it rise to 68.3% in sales. Subsequently, it accounted for 54.9% of the total wearable fitness technology market.
The wearable fitness technology market remained strong and resilient despite the COVID-19 pandemic which has brought a decline in almost all markets in the world. Its resilience was mostly because of the earbuds.
According to Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. He said;
“consumers were clamoring for these sophisticated earpieces. Not only for the ability to playback audio but also to help them increase productivity. Because many of them were forced to work from home. This made them sought ways to reduce surrounding noise while staying connected to their smartphones and smart assistants.”
Currently, the wearable fitness technology markets are majorly seen in three products – fitness headphones, fitness wristbands, and smartwatches. The following data obtained from IDC research at the end of the third-quarters of 2019 verifies this claim.
Fitness headphones
Fitness headphones accounted for 48.1% of the total sales of wearables in the third-quarters of 2019. Apple is the leading brand having sold over 22.7 million Beats and AirPods combined. Meanwhile, Samsung came in second with 5.6 million pairs of Galaxy Buds and other JBL branded earbuds. Placing third was the popular headphone maker Sony who has sold 2 million earbuds.
Fitness wristbands trackers
Wristbands trackers accounted for 22.7% of the total sales of wearables in the third-quarters of 2019.
Smartwatches
Smartwatches accounted for 20.9% of wearables’ total sales in the third-quarters of 2019. Apple came first. Samsung came in second place. BBK (kids’ watch) came third, with over 1.8 million smartwatches sold. In fourth place was Fitbit with 1.7 million smartwatches units sold. While Garmin came fifth, with about 900,000 smartwatches units sold.
Note that the IDC put forward all these analyses for the third quarter of 2019, which is the most recent data on Wearable fitness technology markets as of this article’s writing.
Best Wearable Fitness Technology
The following are some of the best Wearable fitness technology available in 2020 in no particular order.
Fitbit fitness technology
Fitbit is a company that produces ultra-modern fitness trackers and smartwatches. Currently, their fitness trackers are leading the game in wearable fitness trackers. The Fitbit fitness smartwatch’s general features are:
- Waterproof
- ECG sensor
- GPS
- Activity tracking
- Healthy battery life
They are compatible with Android, iOS, and Windows phones. Some notable Fitbit wearable fitness trackers include Fitbit charge 4, Fitbit charge 3, Fitbit sense, to mention a few.
Garmin fitness technology
Garmin is another company with excellent wearable fitness trackers. Their fitness tracker features state-of-art technologies to deliver adequate fitness tracking. The Garmin fitness smartwatch’s general characteristics are:
- Heart rate tracker
- Waterproof
- Activity tracking
- Healthy battery life
- And compatibility with Android and iOS
Some notable Garmin wearable fitness trackers are Garmin vivoactive 3, Garmin vivofit 4, among others.
Huawei fitness technology
Huawei fitness technology is another top brand that keeps people around the world fit. They have produced distinct and durable wearable fitness trackers. Furthermore, they provide a more accurate information about the physical health of the wearer. General features of Huawei wearable fitness trackers are:
- Screen
- Heart rate tracker
- Waterproof
- Activity tracking
- GPS
- Healthy battery life
- Compatibility with Android and iOS
In sum, Fitbit, Garmin and Huawei are the top three best wearable fitness technologies. Some other notable ones are; Apple watch series, Samsung, Xiaomi, Honor, Amazfit, etc
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