The smartwatch craze kicked off in 2015 with the release of the Apple Watch and since then, traditional Swiss wristwatch sales plummeted, while smartwatch sales topped $10 billion in 2017, a 17 percent growth over the previous year.
Moreover, the smartwatch trend doesn’t look set to slow down anytime soon with sales forecasted to nearly double by 2021, according to a recent report.
And while the Apple Watch accounts for over half of all smartwatch sales and 80 percent of the revenue, there are many brands pushing unique, niche smartwatch technologies that may just make a dent in Apple’s dominance of the market.
Self-charging smartwatch
Unlike traditional wristwatches, one of the major problems with smartwatches is the need to charge them or use coin cell batteries to power them. SEQUENT’s smartwatch is the solution to this problem. The company designed and patented the first ever kinetic self-charging battery system, which converts kinetic energy to electric energy that infinitely powers the smartwatch, completely removing the need to charge it.
Solar-powered smartwatch
Much like SEQUENT’s smartwatch, LunaR is another smartwatch to completely eliminate the need to plug in and charge. The smartwatch, designed specifically for outdoor enthusiasts and travelers in mind, harvests solar energy to infinitely power the watch. And the LunaR smartwatch doesn’t only draw its power from sunlight. It can be powered artificial light as well, needing as little as one hour of daily exposure to any light source to never shut down.
IoT smartwatch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHoVb6UNDxQ
LooK smartwatch is the very first watch with an integrated IoT platform built to connect to and communicate with other IoT-enabled devices in your home. The smartwatch can also send and receive messages and calls without being paired to a mobile phone.
Elderly care smartwatch
VitalBand is a smartwatch carving its niche in the elderly market. The smartwatch has a host of features focused on health and safety including automatic fall detection, monitoring of vital signs, a panic button, and medication reminders.
360-degree rotating camera smartwatch
Arrow is the first ever smartwatch with a built-in 360-degree rotating camera. The camera has the ability to capture both 1080p photos and videos as well as sound. The custom-built app that accompanies the smartwatch allows consumers to instantly transfer and share photos and videos across social media.
Hybrid Smartwatch
For those not fully ready to ditch their traditional watch but still want to dabble in the smartwatch trend, there is the ZeTime smartwatch. This stands out from the crowd by incorporating the classic features of a Swiss wristwatch, like mechanical watch hands, with all the modern features of a smartwatch.
