Sales of wearables to jump, as Android starts to catch up to Apple

Makers of wearable computing devices will ship 110 million products in 2016, a big increase from 2015, with Android Wear smartwatches starting to catch up to Apple watchOS devices, IDC predicted.

The number of wearable devices shipped during the year should grow by more than 38 percent from 2015, IDC said Thursday. Smartwatches like the Apple Watch and Android Wear often "capture the spotlight," but other wearable devices make up most of the market, Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers, said in a statement.

Shipments of smartwatches running Android Wear will grow by an average of 48 percent a year between 2016 and 2020, IDC predicted. Smartwatches using Apple's watchOS will also grow, but only by 22 percent a year, the analyst firm said.

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