Speaking at CES in Las Vegas on Monday, Qualcomm president Derek Aberle believes the wearables market is still in a period of 'self-discovery' as companies try to work out the best combination of features and form factors to appeal to buyers.

He thinks that there will be shedloads of different wearable products coming out in the next few years which will be literally and figuratively pants.

"There's not going to be one right choice for wearables… in the next few years we'll see it consolidating, but it will take trial and error before we get there."

Health-related wearables will see particularly strong growth, and predicted an explosion in number of medical apps over the coming years.

Qualcomm chips are under the bonnet of more than 15 different wearable devices for sale in over 30 countries.

Aberle said Qualcomm will use what it has learned producing chips for mobile devices to bolster its position in the wearables market.

He said that the wearable market is closely connected to smartphones, so this allows Qualcomm to use its position in the smartphone space so we'll have to see how we go forward in the future.