Global shipments of wearable devices were up 55.2% in 1Q19 reaching 49.6 million units, reports IDC. Wrist-worn wearables accounted for 63.2% of those shipments; whereas, ear-worn shipments accounted for 34.6% of shipments, growing 135.1% year over year. "The elimination of headphone jacks and the increased usage of smart assistants both inside and outside the home have been driving factors in the growth of ear-worn wearables," said Jitesh Ubrani research manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. "Looking ahead, this will become an increasingly important category as major platform and device makers use ear-worn devices as an on-ramp to entice consumers into an ecosystem of wearable devices that complement the smartphone but also offer the ability to leave the phone behind when necessary." "Shipments of wristwear – including watches and wristbands – grew 31.6% year over year, and continue to dominate the wearables landscape," said Ramon T. Llamas, resea...
