Still, amid signs of a slowdown in smartphone sales and pressure to come up with the next big thing, tech companies are jumping on the wearable tech trend. Many analysts expect Apple, Google and Samsung will roll out wearable tech products in the next 12 months.

But Parks Associates analyst Harry Wang predicts that at best, smartwatch sales will top out at about 120 million around 2018 — a far cry from smartphones and tablets. More than 1 billion smartphones and more than 195 million tablets were sold last year. 

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Parks Associates' Wang said smartwatches will eventually compete against luxury watch makers such as Rolex, not other tech companies.

Entering into the already established watch market would have companies making fewer sales but higher profit margins, he said. Wang's forecast for the sale of 120 million devices assumes that wearables would act more as a luxury watch, rather than a smartphone or tablet.

Wang cited several factors that could boost the smartwatch market, including technological advances that could make the devices more attractive to consumers. An app developer or innovative start-up, for instance, might come up with a new feature or sexier selling point for wearables that could brighten their prospects.

From the article "Wearable devices are unlikely to be big sellers, analysts say" by Riley Snider.

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