Wearable camera shipments continue to grow

Sports and adventure cameras, also known as action cameras, remain the biggest driver for wearable camera adoption, according to a new report from market intelligence firm Tractica. The wearable camera market today includes cameras used for sports and adventure activities, public safety, and consumer applications. Wearable cameras have targeted specific niche use cases for capturing moments, whether they be thrill seeking or security related, where hands-free usage is a key requirement.

Wearable camera market

Tractica forecasts that wearable camera shipments will increase from 7.4 million units in 2015 to 24.0 million units annually by 2021, creating a market worth $3.4 billion by that time.

“Wearable cameras have gained acceptance in places where there is a clear and well-defined use case, like in the case of sports or public safety,” says research director Aditya Kaul. “However, in the case of consumer lifelogging where there is a continuous capture of a person’s day, wearable cameras have found it difficult to gain traction. Along the same lines, wearable camera usage in industrial, enterprise, and healthcare applications remains limited.”

GoPro has seen declining sales over the last three quarters

Kaul adds that the market is entering an uncertain phase. GoPro is one of the most well-recognized and successful wearable camera companies today, responsible for introducing the action camera. However, GoPro has seen declining sales over the last three quarters with Chinese companies like Xiaomi catching up in terms of quality, while also competing aggressively on price. Tractica’s analysis indicates that GoPro’s weakness is likely to translate into an opportunity for other vendors, as the market continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace. New exciting technologies like 360 vision, virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning, and computer vision will enhance the wearable camera experience, expanding the devices’ use cases and applications.