This Week in Wearables – Apple Watch and Fitbit Aren’t the Only Wearables to Watch Out For

This Week in Wearables is our weekly blog curating the best stories on wearables from around the web.

Healthcare offers major opportunity for wearable technology

via betanews, by Ian Baker

According to a new report from research company IDTechEx the wearable market will be worth over $24 million this year. But much of this is for existing technology like smartwatches and fitness trackers. Where are wearables headed in future though? According to the report the biggest opportunity is in medical and healthcare applications. Including blood glucose monitoring, healthcare is already the largest single sector by revenue in wearable technology and is likely to stay that way.

With the Gear S2 smartwatch, Samsung finally gets wearables

via Mashable, by Lance Ulanoff

Humans have been wearing watches for centuries, but to look at the recent history of smartwatches, you’d never know it. They are, with few exceptions, a motley bunch. Samsung has been a chief offender, kicking out an extraordinary number of devices that appear largely unacquainted with fashion and the anatomy of the human wrist. But that all stops now. The Samsung Gear S2 is, based on the precious 45 minutes I got to spend with it on Wednesday, a remarkable rethink of the Gear line. From first impressions to fiddling with the new buttons, and playing with its signature circular interface and very pleasing rotatable bezel, the Gear S2 (and Classic), shouts quality, design and, thank goodness, attention to how humans might actually wear and use watches (smart or otherwise).

Morgan Stanley: Wearables Are Becoming ‘Mainstream’ And Apple Isn’t The Only Way to Play it

via benzinga, by Mark Meadows

Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty said that there is the likelihood for “multiple winners” in the wearables space, including leaders Fitbit and Apple, as well as Garmin Ltd. GRMN 2.68% and SAMSUNG ELECT LTD SSNLF. The analysis comes following Morgan Stanley’s May Alphawise survey, which showed that consumers indicating they would purchase a device is higher than those that own a device. Further, the wearables market is approaching the notebook market in terms of size, with 23 percent of consumers owning a wearable versus 28 percent that own a notebook.

Meet the dark horse of the wearables market: Xiaomi Mi Band

via Fortune, by Kif Leswing

Compared to the best-selling wearables in the United States, Xiaomi’s Mi Band looks underwhelming: It can’t display notifications, connect to third-party apps, or even tell the time. But, in the end, the product might just end up being what disrupts the wearables market just as it’s heating up. Xiaomi shipped more wearable devices in the last quarter than everyone except tech giants Fitbit and Apple, according to a new report from IDC. In the second quarter of 2015, Xiaomi shipped 3.1 million units of its Mi Band — over four times as many wearables as the fourth place company, Garmin, and good for 17.1% of the global market. Sure, Xiaomi is best known for its smartphones, but it’s truly a major player in the fitness tracker world.

Cheap Alternatives to IFA Wearables Gear S2, Zenwatch 2

via Geek snack, by Charlotte Banks

With IFA Berlin in full swing, the focus of the tech community has been slowly gravitating towards wearables, the stars of the IFA exhibition With Intel, Samsung, Asus, Motorola, Lenovo, Huawei and others showing off their shiny new wearable devices, we couldn’t help but notice that wearables are getting expensive. Although focus on wearables has been intensifying and people were expecting their prices to drop, that doesn’t seem to be happening. Truth is, it is happening, but we’re not looking in the wright place.