What Does Usage Look Like?

This year, 23.8 million US millennials will have used a wearable device at least once per month. That's roughly a third of the millennial population, according to our estimates.

We expect adoption to continue to increase steadily, reaching 28.9 million US millennials by 2022.

"Millennials, especially older ones, are the most likely age group to use wearables," said eMarketer forecasting analyst Cindy Liu. "This group has been the most involved in the emergence of the "Quantified Self" movement especially as it relates to fitness tracking."

This week, we're looking at wearable users. Each day, we'll delve into a different demographic and see what usage looks like across various age groups. Previously, we looked at teens. Next up, millennials.

Smartwatches or Fitness Trackers?

Millennials are replacing their simple fitness trackers with more complex devices like smartwatches.

In 2019, roughly half of wearable users age 18 and older will use a smartwatch, translating to 28.7 million adults.

"We can expect smartwatches to play a large role in wearables' growth among millennials," Liu said. "Standalone LTE connectivity is a major feature upgrade, and we expect to see more and more devices outfitted with this feature."

More on Millennials from eMarketer

Podcasts:

• The Intern Podcast
• Just How Different Are Younger and Older Millennials?

Articles:

• Millennials Browse In-Store, but Buy Online
• Are Millennials Using Smart Speakers?
• Millennials Don't Mind Using Tech While Shopping