In this blog post, we will look at how wearable devices, focusing on Apple Watch and Google Glass, will change our daily lives, healthcare, and communication, and lead the future.
In September 2014, Apple unveiled its first wearable device, the Apple Watch, with the ambition that “the Swiss watch market will be in trouble.” As the name “Apple Watch” suggests, this product is a wristwatch that goes beyond simply telling time and is a smart device equipped with various health management functions and iPhone connectivity. Users can measure their heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, sleep patterns, and more in real time, and by linking it to their iPhone, they can easily check messages, receive calls, and view app notifications, among other functions, right from their wrist.
The emergence of such wearable devices has gone beyond the limitations of smartphones in terms of portability and presented a new user experience called “wearable computing,” in which machines function as if they were part of the human body. The key word for understanding the Apple Watch is undoubtedly “wearable.”
Wearable refers to the concept of a “wearable computer,” which is an electronic device that can be worn or attached to the body. In addition to smartwatches worn on the wrist, wearables are evolving into various forms, such as smart glasses worn on the head, smart shoes such as sneakers, smart rings, smart clothing, and even bio patches attached to the skin. All of these devices are designed to collect and respond to the user’s physical and environmental information in real time.
The greatest strength of wearable devices is that they are located close to the user’s body, enabling continuous and accurate data collection. For example, the Apple Watch Series 6 added a blood oxygen measurement function, and the Series 9 includes functions such as body temperature change detection, wrist temperature measurement, fall detection, and menstrual cycle tracking. As such, wearables are evolving beyond simply performing mechanical functions to become personalized healthcare tools that can manage users’ health and detect or respond to dangerous situations in advance.
Another representative example of wearable technology is Google Glass. Google Glass is a smart device in the form of glasses that displays digital information in the user’s field of vision using augmented reality (AR) technology. When it was first unveiled in a concept video titled “One day…” in 2012, the device attracted a lot of attention for its ability to check messages, respond to voice commands, provide real-time directions, and even take and share photos. In particular, the idea of performing all these functions with just your eyes and voice, without using your hands, was touted as a representative vision of the digital life of the future.
However, unlike the video released at the time, the actual product faced technical limitations and social resistance, resulting in commercial failure. This was due to its short battery life, high network dependency, and controversy over privacy issues as it obstructed the user’s vision. Eventually, the consumer model was discontinued in 2015, and Google shifted its focus to industrial devices for business use (Google Glass Enterprise Edition).
However, with production officially ending in 2023, Google Glass has effectively disappeared into history. It is true that there was a lot of skepticism about early wearable devices. Even the Apple Watch was criticized in its early days for being unnecessary, with people asking, “Do I really need to receive notifications on my wrist?” There were also cases where products were rejected due to their high price and lack of practicality, such as Google Glass. However, the situation changed dramatically in the mid-2020s. In the case of the Apple Watch, cumulative sales worldwide exceeded 200 million units in 2025, and more than half of smartwatch users in the US and Europe use Apple Watches.
In particular, with the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for real-time health monitoring has skyrocketed, and features such as blood oxygen measurement, electrocardiogram (ECG), and sleep tracking have gained attention. At the same time, the wearable market has expanded further as various manufacturers such as Samsung, Fitbit, Huawei, and Xiaomi have competitively released smartwatches. Now, they are no longer just “devices,” but have established themselves as personal assistants that integrate health management, fitness, schedule management, and even digital payments.
In particular, with the recent emergence of wearable devices that aim for vision-centric spatial computing, such as Apple Vision Pro, the concept of wearables is expanding once again. Vision Pro breaks away from the existing smartphone-centric information consumption model and provides a new user experience that integrates work, learning, and entertainment by displaying a virtual screen in the user’s actual field of view. This means that augmented reality wearable technology, which failed with Google Glass, is once again becoming a reality.
Along with this, wearable technology is also creating an important turning point in the medical and healthcare fields. Wearable ECG sensors, blood glucose measurement patches, and smart rings (e.g., Oura Ring) collect users’ health information in real time, link it to hospital systems, and utilize it for AI-based diagnosis and treatment. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has officially approved some wearable devices as medical devices, and links with telemedicine systems are also becoming more widespread. In Korea, wearable devices are being commercialized for fall detection systems for the elderly and home health monitoring platforms, and are expected to be actively linked with the insurance industry in the future.
As such, wearable devices are going beyond a simple technological trend and becoming essential tools for improving people’s health and quality of life. Although wearables have not yet replaced all everyday items, similar to the early days of smartphones, we are currently in a transitional period where user experience is being accumulated and functions are being refined. Just as it was difficult to imagine the current wearable ecosystem 10 years ago, in 10 years, wearables that we cannot even imagine today may be around us.
In conclusion, wearable technology is evolving beyond a single electronic device to become an “extended body” that understands and supports human behavior, health, emotions, and daily rhythms. Depending on how we utilize this technology, we will be able to enjoy healthier and more efficient lives, and with the emergence of new devices, our lives will once again undergo a major change. Now is the time to prepare for that future.
