The smartwatch industry isn’t really in trouble but we can’t say either that it’s been winning. Growth forecast was only 24.7% in 2016 while fitness trackers are continuously rising. We have a number of ideas as to why this is happening but we know the OEMs and brands won’t give up just yet. We’re expecting more smartwatch models to be released in the coming weeks especially since there were several introduced during the CES 2017 by Fossil, New Balance, and Garmin.
Next to join the game is ZTE. The company is working on an Android Wear-powered smartwatch to be released this 2017. This is according to ZTE USA’s CEO Lixin Cheng who shared the news just before CES started. According to Cheng, ZTE also has a carrier partner in the United States that will carry the smartwatch and provide LTE connection.
The latest Android Wear version should be ready for the smartwatches once they are announced. Out of the box, we hope to see the Android Wear 2.0 already running and with lower price tags. Hopefully this way, the people will be enticed to finally get a smartwatch. The new version allows standalone apps so they should be more useful now.
Honestly, not many companies are still willing to invest in smartwatches. Some are thinking of just using fitness trackers because they are cheaper and simpler to us. As for ZTE, it is still willing to work on a smartwatch and release to partners. The company thinks that smartwatch game can still improve. They just need to do some tweaks and turns.
VIA: CNET
