Princess Sumaya University for Technology

Technical Writing and Communication Skills

Authors: Supervisor:

Hasan Al-Hasnawi 20210402 Electronics Eng. Eng. Fadia Al-Issa

Yaman Daoud 20201123 Computer Eng.

Ayham Ismail 20220039 IOT/Com. Eng.

January 11, 2024

Abstract
This report showcases the recent technology trends in the fitness industry. The report analyzes the recent tech
trends in fitness including applications and trackers through different perspectives. Firstly, the report compares
the popularity and features of fitness applications and trackers. The report also analyzes the market share and
business expectations of wearable fitness technology. Finally, the report compares the sales of major
competitors in the fitness tracker market and evaluates them through an engineering perspective to determine
the differences between major trackers in the fitness industry.

Table of Contents
1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................................2
2 Features & Popularity of Fitness Apps.............................................................................................................2
- Personalized Fitness Solutions:....................................................................................................................2
- Nutritional Guidance and Meal Tracking:....................................................................................................2
- Real-Time Tracking and Progress Monitoring:............................................................................................2
- Community Engagement and Social Connectivity:......................................................................................3
- Wearable Technology Integration:...............................................................................................................3
3 Market Expectations of Wearable Fitness Technology....................................................................................3
4 Possible Growth of Wearable Fitness Technology..........................................................................................4
5 Fitness Tracker Comparison.............................................................................................................................5
- Sales of Fitness Trackers..............................................................................................................................5
- Variation of data from Fitness Trackers.......................................................................................................6
6 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................7
7 References........................................................................................................................................................8

List of Figures
Fig. 1 chart showing the percentage of people who own a fitness tracker..............................................................4
Fig. 2 unit sales of Fitbit, Garmin, and Apple watch over the years.......................................................................5

List of Tables
Table 1 shows the expected market values of several forms of wearable devices and their expected CAGR.......3
Table 2 shows the different trackers compared in the study and their features......................................................6

1
 1 Introduction
Over the last 20 years, the fitness industry has witnessed a major advancement in technology. The fitness
industry is very different from how it used to be as new technologies have provided many useful tools to help in
guiding people to reach their goals in fitness. These tools are found everywhere nowadays as there are many
fitness applications that can be downloaded on our phones with various benefits and uses. Moreover, the rise of
fitness trackers has really changed the outlook on the fitness industry and the market of fitness trackers has had
a major effect on the world.
This report will provide a comprehensive view on the recent technology trends in the fitness industry where
features of the new fitness apps will be discussed showing why these apps have gained popularity over the last
years. In addition, the report will provide details on the market of the wearable fitness technology, delving into
the market expectations of these technologies and their possible growth. Last but not least, a comparison is
drawn between different brands of fitness trackers, providing an insight to the sales of these trackers and into
the variation of the data obtained from them.

2 Features & Popularity of Fitness Apps

In the recent years, there has been a surge in the popularity and growth of fitness apps, and how they have
significantly changed the landscape for the health and wellness of exercising individuals worldwide. These
digital platforms offer a plethora of features and tools that cater to the diverse needs and preferences of users,
contributing to its widespread adoption.

- Personalized Fitness Solutions:

One of the key factors driving the success of fitness apps is their ability to provide personalized fitness
solutions. Unlike generic workout programs, these apps leverage advanced algorithms and user inputs to
generate customized workout plans. Users can tailor their exercise routines based on specific goals, current
fitness levels, and even time constraints. This personalized approach not only enhances the effectiveness of
workouts but also keeps users motivated and engaged in their fitness journey.

- Nutritional Guidance and Meal Tracking:

Beyond exercise routines, fitness apps have expanded their scope to encompass holistic wellness. Many of these
platforms offer nutritional guidance, allowing users to make informed dietary choices. With features like meal
tracking, users can monitor their daily food intake, receive dietary recommendations, and maintain a balanced
nutrition plan. This comprehensive approach addresses the interconnectedness of physical activity and nutrition,
promoting a more wholesome approach to health.

- Real-Time Tracking and Progress Monitoring:

Another standout feature of fitness apps is their emphasis on progress tracking. Users can monitor their
activities in real-time, track their performance over time, and set achievable fitness goals. Whether it's weight
loss, muscle gain, or improved endurance, these apps provide valuable insights into individual progress. The
ability to visualize achievements and milestones fosters a sense of accomplishment, motivating users to stay
committed to their fitness routines.

2
 - Community Engagement and Social Connectivity:
Fitness is not just about individual efforts; it's also a communal experience. Recognizing this, fitness apps
integrate social features that connect users worldwide. From virtual fitness challenges to supportive online
communities, these platforms foster a sense of accountability and camaraderie. Users can share their
achievements, participate in challenges, and engage with like-minded individuals, turning fitness into a shared
journey.

- Wearable Technology Integration:

The integration of fitness apps with wearable technology adds a layer of sophistication to the user experience.
Compatibility with fitness trackers and synchronization with smartwatches enable real-time health monitoring.
This seamless integration not only provides users with a comprehensive overview of their physical activities but
also encourages a more proactive approach to health and fitness.
The surge in the popularity of fitness apps can be attributed to their ability to offer personalized solutions,
comprehensive wellness features, real-time tracking, social engagement, and integration with cutting-edge
wearable technology. These platforms have redefined the way individuals approach health and fitness, making it
more accessible, engaging, and tailored to individual needs.

3 Market Expectations of Wearable Fitness Technology

Looking into wearable fitness technology trends through the lens of the market values, the future of fitness in
technology can be glimpsed at by looking at the expected values of the markets of different forms of wearable
technology.
Table 1 shows the expected market values of several forms of wearable devices and their expected CAGR. 1

Report Attribute Details

Wearable Fitness Technology Market US$ 33

Anticipated Forecast Value (2033) billion

Wearable Fitness Technology Expected 10.2%

Market CAGR (compound annual growth rate)

Wearable Electronics Market Anticipated US$ 280

Forecast Value (2033) billion

Wearable Electronics Market Expected CAGR 18.1%

(compound annual growth rate)

Wearable Computing Devices Anticipated US$ 258.87

Forecast Value Market billion

Wearable Computing Devices Expected 19.3%

CAGR (compound annual growth rate)

1
Wearable Fitness Technology market. (2023, July 25)
3
The table shows data from a report by Sudip Saha in Future Market Insights detailing the expected market
values of several forms of wearable devices and their expected CAGR (compound annual growth rate).
The data shows a predicted increase in the market value of wearable fitness technology going into the future;
however, in the same report, data for the market values of non-fitness specific wearable technology is shown to
be astronomically larger than that of fitness-specific wearable technology in both size and growth rate. From
this information it can be concluded that in terms of wearable fitness, the most common form is going to be
fitness applications that use the features in non-fitness-specific wearable devices such as heart rate sensors and
step counters in smart watches, as the fitness applications available for such devices will have a significantly
larger reach than that of the fitness-specific wearable devices.

4 Possible Growth of Wearable Fitness Technology

The data from the pie chart shows that most people are in favor of owning a fitness tracker of some kind but
there are factors that prevent them from owning one. Such factors could include monetary reasons, lack of
features, or design of the tracker.2

2
Holko, M., Litwin, T. R. (2022)
4
 Fig. 1 chart showing the percentage of people who own a fitness tracker.

In terms of the cost of fitness trackers most will cost you roughly around 100$ USD; which, while not as
expensive as other commonly used technology, can be hard to justify for such a specific use item, and the
general use smart watches that include fitness features will be pricier. Looking into the future, most new
technology tends to have bigger price ranges as time goes on, whether it be smartphones which, while the
higher tier models have never been more expensive, the lower end affordable models have never been as good
or as cheap. The personal computer has also followed that same trend, so it can be expected that cheaper options
will appear in the future.
For lack features and the design, new features are being tested and added with every new iteration of the major
smartwatch and fitness tracker products, soon it will be difficult to find lacking features or necessities; as for
design, companies have shown awareness of some consumers’ lack of enthusiasm towards the default designs
of these smartwatches and fitness trackers, and as such have given options to change the interface and the outer
features of these devices to look more like typical watches.
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 5 Fitness Tracker Comparison
- Sales of Fitness Trackers
Fitbit, Garmin and Apple Watch are major competitors in the fitness tracker market. Comparing the sales of
each competitor can provide a basic understanding of the fitness tracker market and see how the market has
changed over the years.

FITBIT GARMIN Apple Watch

60
Unit Sales in mil-

50

40
lions

30

20

10

0
2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022

Fig. 2 unit sales of Fitbit, Garmin, and Apple watch over the years

The graph from Fig. 23 shows the unit sales in millions per year for the three competitors, Fitbit, Garmin and
Apple watch from 2010 to 2022. It can be noticed that the sales of Fitbits started growing slowly at 2010 and
continued at an increasing rate until the company reached a peak in unit sales in 2016 where the company sold
22,295,000 units in that year. Since 2016, unit sales have been in decline and never reached that peak again
where as of 2022, unit sales of Fitbit are at 9,200,000. The decrease in unit sales from 201l., is almost 60%,
showing that the sales of Fitbit have really depreciated over the years.
Garmin has maintained a steady structure of unit sales, where there are no general trends or sudden changes.
The company seems to be at equivalence, averaging around 15-million-unit sales per year since 2014.
Fitbit was leading the fitness tracker market until 2018 where Apple watch took over. The release of Apple
watch was announced in 2015, where Apple sold 8.3 million units in their debut year. The unit sales of apple
watches have greatly increased over the years, unlike competitors Fitbit and Garmin. The greatest increase in
sales of apple watches can be noticed from the year 2019 to 2020, where unit sales rocketed from 30,700,000 to
43,100,000 units, this is almost a 40% increase in sales in just one year. This emphasizes on how the Apple
watch has gained popularity over the years and has really gained control over the fitness tracker market.
This shift in market share can be attributed to many reasons, the first is that the Apple watch has many different
uses including the fitness and health tracking. On the other hand, Fitbit is only known to provide health and

3
Laricchia, F. (2023, September 8)
Laricchia, F. (2023, November 6)
6
fitness statistics accurately. The versatility of the Apple watch and the fact that it can be linked to the user’s
iPhone has helped it gain popularity over the other fitness trackers.

- Variation of data from Fitness Trackers

A study4 from 2017 has compared fitness trackers from Fitbit, Garmin and the apple watch. These trackers are
shown below.
Table 2 shows the different trackers compared in the study and their features.

Model of tracker Description

Fitbit Flex Monitors distance traveled, calories burned, steps taken, and active
minutes. Furthermore, how long and soundly the user sleeps.

Fitbit Charge HR Gives simplified heart rate zones and continuous, automated, wrist-
based heart rate monitoring. Keeps track of steps, active minutes,
distance traveled, heart rate, calories burnt, floors climbed, and
workouts. Has an alarm and automatically checks for sleep.

Garmin Vivoactive Integrated sports applications, such as activity tracking and

swimming, as well as GPS-enabled running, biking, and golfing
choices.

Apple watch A smartwatch that promises to track any motion, not just running
and walking. With GPS, Apple Watch gathers information from the
user when they stand, sit, and exercise. It also determines their
heart rate.

4
Bender, C. G., Hoffstot (2017, March)
7
The study has been conducted over a 2-week period and compare these different trackers shown in Table 2.
There were two experiments conducted to compare the data obtained from each tracker. The first was
comparing between two different brands, which were the Fitbit Charge HR and the Garmin Vivoactive. Over
the course of 14 days, the relative difference in the data obtained of steps counted, miles travelled, and calories
burnt was calculated.
The results obtained showed variation in the data obtained from both trackers, where the difference reached a
peak of 34% in the number of steps made. The number of miles travelled showed lower variation where the
relative difference only reached a maximum of 26%, however this is still very high. The main surprise was the
fact that there was no relation between the number of calories burnt and the steps made over the 2-week period.
This could be as a result of the different sensors in each tracker, where the tri-axial sensors in each device are
manufactured and calibrated in different methodologies.
The second experiment compared between the Fitbit Flex and the Apple watch to evaluate the fitness tracking
capabilities of a smart watch in comparison to a laboratory proven accurate fitness tracker such as the Fitbit
Flex. The Fitbit flex to be relatively accurate when compared to laboratory used devices. For the majority of the
experiment, the Apple watch showed a higher step count than the Fitbit Flex except for 2 days. Therefore, we
hypothesize that Apple might be inflating the total number of steps taken. This can be due to other factors such
as GPS and the movement of the iPhone connected to the watch itself that lead top the inflation of the number
of steps.

6 Conclusion
In conclusion, we can find that the recent technological rends have gained popularity because of their
effectiveness, their ease of access and the uses they provide. The fitness apps provide personalized fitness
solutions, meal-planning, nutritional guidance, progress monitoring and real time tracking. All these features are
now available at ease for any user with a phone which has changed the fitness industry in a positive way.
Moreover, data shows that the market of wearable fitness technology is expected to grow but is not larger and is
not growing as fast as non-fitness-specific wearable devices. As a result, it is expected that fitness apps are
going to be more common that fitness specific wearable devices.
Finally, it can be found that the Apple watch has really taken over the market and has dominated other fitness
specific products such as Fitbit and Garmin. It is also important to notice that there is major variation of data
obtained from each type of tracker studied due to the different design and manufacturing processes of the
sensors found inside these trackers.

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 7 References
Bender, C. G., Hoffstot, J. C., Combs, B. T., Hooshangi, S., & Cappos, J. (2017, March). Measuring the fitness

of fitness trackers. In 2017 IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium (SAS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.

Dhiman, N., Arora, N., Dogra, N. and Gupta, A. (2020), "Consumer adoption of smartphone fitness apps: an

extended UTAUT2 perspective", Journal of Indian Business Research, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 363-388.

https://doi.org/10.1108/JIBR-05-2018-0158

Holko, M., Litwin, T. R., Munoz, F., Theisz, K. I., Salgin, L., Jenks, N. P., Holmes, B. W., Watson-McGee, P.,

Winford, E., & Sharma, Y. (2022). Wearable fitness tracker use in federally qualified health center

patients: strategies to improve the health of all of us using digital health devices. NPJ digital medicine,

5(1), 53. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00593-x

Laricchia, F. (2023, September 8). Fitbit device unit sales worldwide 2010-2022 | Statista. Statista. Retrieved

January 11, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/472591/fitbit-devices-sold/

Laricchia, F. (2023, November 6). Apple Watch unit sales worldwide 2015-2022. Statista. Retrieved January 11,

2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1421546/apple-watch-sales-worldwide/

Millington, B. (2014). Smartphone Apps and the Mobile Privatization of Health and Fitness. Sport in Society,

17(4), 479-493. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2014.973429

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fitness-technology-market

Yuan, S., Ma, W., Kanthawala, S., & Peng, W. (2015). Keep Using My Health Apps: Discover Users'

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