Wearable Technology

From lymphatic drainage tools to insulin pumps, the latest medical and wearable devices were showcased at the Med Tech Expo 2026, where IDTechEx spoke with multiple companies making waves across the sector with their latest innovations.

Wearable devices can bridge the gap between the internal and external, by acting as an interface between the body's inner workings and real-time data displayed on a screen. This article covers wearable devices and quantum sensors used in wearables.

Printed and flexible electronics is a diverse sector, accommodating a variety of technologies and applications from flexible batteries and conductive inks to photovoltaics. This article covers wearables, consumer electronics, and energy.

This week, the long-anticipated announcement of Google smart eyewear came. It revealed intelligent eyewear with frames designed by Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, announced to be launched sometime in the autumn of 2026.

Wearables can bridge the communication gap between the body and a computer. This article explores how devices can serve various purposes, from displaying real-time narration from actual speech, to generating readable, measurable signals translated directly from the body and understood within the medical space.

2026 is an exciting time for smart glasses, with several products expected to be launched from big tech players later this year, which will follow Meta's release of the Ray-Ban Display launched in September 2025. The optics required to give AI smart glasses augmented reality (AR) capabilities are called waveguides and are positioned within the eyepiece. There have been several key developments to waveguide technology which are enabling AR smart glasses which are lightweight, have longer battery life, and have a fashionable form factor. IDTechEx forecasts 35 million AR smart glasses to be sold annually by 2036.

IDTechEx analyst Thomas Bithell discusses the AR smart glass market and the optics used.

Producing streamlined devices to measure a number of medical biometrics and creating modern and efficient wearable products are some of the latest achievable possibilities with printed electronics. LOPEC 2026 saw companies showcasing their latest printed electronics technologies emerging into the market.

Join IDTechEx Technology Analyst Thomas Bithell on Thursday 26th February for this expert webinar, "Waveguide Technologies and Substrate Choices Shaping the Next Generation of AR and AI Smart Glasses".