Source: The Next Web
Apple's dominance in wearables is fragmenting as consumers shift toward purpose-built devices—rings, patches, and audio-first wearables—that solve specific problems without requiring constant screen interaction. The $100 billion installed base remains intact, but growth is flowing to competitors like Oura, Whoop, and hearable makers offering friction-free biometric tracking instead of smartwatch feature bloat. This echoes the smartphone cycle: once a category matures and becomes ubiquitous, the innovation edge moves to specialized, single-purpose devices that integrate into daily life differently.