Fitness tracking devices are expected to remain the dominant force in the wearable tech market over the next three years, according to new research, although smartwatches are anticipated to gradually increase their market share.

A new report from technology analyst Juniper Research titled Future Health & Fitness Wearables: Business Models, Forecasts & Vendor Share 2016-2020 observed that lines between traditional fitness tracker bands and other wearables are beginning to blur, with fitness wearables offering a range of call-handling and notification functions that can also be found in smartwatches. The report adds that the existence of app-enabled fitness trackers, such as the Samsung Gear Fit and Microsoft Band, lessens the distinction even further.

The wearable tech market has boomed in recent years and shows no signs of abating, with devices like the Apple Watch pushing wearables firmly into the mainstream. Currently worth around US$5.1bn (€4.5bn £3.2bn), the market is expected to triple in value over the next decade.

Juniper analysts noted that fitness devices remain the most popular wearables currently, because they are both cheaper and have a more obvious use than current smartwatches. They said however, that this would change by 2019, when fitness wearables are expected to be used by approximately 110m people worldwide, while smartwatches will have more than 130m users.

The findings came in the same week that Mintel reported three million wrist-worn wearable devices such as fitness bands and smartwatches were estimated to have been sold in the UK in 2015. This marked a 118 per cent increase on unit sales in 2014, which reached 1.4 million.

Although smartwatches increased their market share in the UK as predicted, it was the fitness band which was the most bought wearable device last year, out-stripping sales of smartwatches by almost two to one.

“While fitness bands are, on average, less expensive than other wearables and have been on the market for relatively longer, higher adoption rates are also a reflection of the fact that wrist-worn devices offer a compelling practical benefit to active users,” said Sara Ballaben, Technology Analyst at Mintel.

“Fitness bands monitor and help to improve their performance while eliminating the need to carry around bulkier devices while training. While important product launches have and will certainly continue to accelerate consumer demand for smartwatches, the expected popularity of smartwatches in the short term is also the result of continued growth of the phablet market, which creates more compelling use cases for wrist-worn watches.”