One in Five Americans Regularly Wear a Smartwatch or Fitness Tracker

Don’t look now—smart technology is coming for your wrist. 21% of U.S. adults regularly wear a smartwatch or wearable fitness tracker, per Pew Research.

The most smartwatchy and fitness tracky demographics: Women: 25% (vs. 18% for men), college-educated: 27%, and income of $75k or more: 31%.

Expect these numbers to keep climbing. With Apple leading the pack—and Google buying its way in—smartwatches and fitness trackers are Big Tech’s new hardware obsession.

And Small Tech, too. Dozens of companies showed off wearables at CES last week. Two highlights:

• French company Withings’s ScanWatch now offers a built-in ECG for AFib and sleep apnea detection.
• Finnish company Suunto’s new sports smartwatch has high-quality offline outdoor maps, over 70 sports modes, and plenty of other neat features.

Zoom out: Smartwatches continue to tack on more use cases, from payments to health tracking. But don’t get it twisted...they’re an accessory to mobile devices, not a replacement.