Smartwatch vendors were exhibiting new prototypes and newly developed parts and components, mainly displays, watchbands and sensors, to test the market responses during the recently concluded CES 2015, according to Digitimes Research.
A variety of materials have been utilized for digital displays, including E-ink, LCD and OLED, on wearable devices. With the exception of Samsung Electronics and other top-tier vendors which are able to access the supply of AMOLED screens, most of other vendors still preferred to use non-AMOLED displays.
Additionally, some vendors were highlighting semi-transparent screens by laminating a transparent touchscreen on the glass cover of the smartwatch, while still keeping an analog display underneath. The dual displays enable delivering analog and digital information simultaneously.
Since a normal 2-inch display is unable to satisfy the demand from hardware designers, some vendors are extending the hardware section to watchband for additional functionality. For example, Samsung Electronics' Simband platform includes NFC, battery and sensor modules.
For sensors, the algorithms have been upgraded to enable measuring the parameters of human body. Other exhibits included proximity sensors, motion sensors, biological sensors and positioning sensors.
The development of upstream parts and components will help enrich the diversity of smartwatches, enabling vendors to renew outer designs, hardware architectures and service contents of their smartwatches year by year in ways much like smartphone vendors and therefore, keeping the smartwatch market expand continuously, Digitimes Research commented.