The main reason first-time buyers consider purchasing wearable technology is so they can track their health, according to new data released by YouGov.

A study of US consumers who were likely to buy a wearable device found that the majority want the ability to track heart rate (56 per cent), followed by the ability to track fitness (54 per cent).

Others features important to consumers surveyed were the ability to display time and date (51 per cent), track sleep (44 per cent), emails and messages (37 per cent), integrated GPS (35 per cent), make and receive calls (29 per cent) and the ability to add friends to compete against (13 per cent).

As many as seven million US adults will buy some sort of wearable device before the end of the year.

Research suggests that the global wearables industry, which includes smartwatches and fitness trackers, will hit $34bn (£27.6bn, €32.7bn) by 2020.

When it comes to brands, 22 per cent of consumers likely to buy their first wearable device within the next 12 months will choose a Fitbit product. Equally, 22 per cent said they were most likely to choose an Apple smartwatch. Samsung was in third with 17 per cent. Other brands shoppers said they would buy included Google (5 per cent), LG (4 per cent), and Garmin (3 per cent).

YouGov’s wearables tracker survey questions 3,000 people every quarter.