More people than ever before are turning to wearable sensors to monitor their activity levels. However, despite its origin in simple step counting, the market for wearable sensors is expanding into the more complex arena of health monitoring.

Innovations in wearable sensor technology are expanding the envelope of biometrics accessible through watches and skin patches. This not only seeks to address the growing demand for remote patient monitoring and decentralized clinical trials but also the rising expectations of the general consumer. This includes easier access to health data but extends further to sensor integration into headsets and accessories for immersive experiences in the metaverse.

Not all wearable sensor technology is made equal and distinguishing between hype and reality is an increasing challenge for stakeholders. The latest wearable sensors report from IDTechEx, Wearable Sensors 2023-2033, breaks down the complex landscape of sensor types, biometrics, and form factors. This includes inertial measurement units, optical sensors, and chemical sensors for vital signs, stress, sleep, and even brain activity. IDTechEx highlights the key opportunities and challenges for each sensor type to achieve commercial success across the next 10 years.

Overall, IDTechEx provides insight into how wearable sensors could be integrated into society long term—the technology underpinning value within the trend towards ‘the quantified self’. The main drivers for growth identified are digital health and remote patient monitoring, extended reality, and the metaverse and performance analytics of athletes and sports people. All of these meta-trends and more are discussed in this report.

IDTechEx’s research in wearables tracks the progress of over 50 wearable electronic product types. Within each of these products, a key focus of the research has been understanding and characterizing the prevalence of sensor types integrated into each. The report Wearable Sensors 2023-2033 looks at the key sensor components in each of these wearable product categories, focusing on 12 different sensor types. The combination of detailed wearable product forecasting and understanding of the sensor landscape and suppliers enables very detailed forecasting for wearable sensors, in terms of revenue, pricing, and volume, with historic data from 2010 to present, and forecasts from 2023-2033.