The wearables device market in India is seeing significant growth thanks to more Indian companies bringing affordable products as well as faster uptake in smaller towns and villages.
The overall wearables market in India saw a record 23.9 million devices shipped in the April-June quarter, growing 113% year-on-year, according to analyst firm IDC. That includes smartwatches, smart bands and true wireless stereo (TWS) audio products.
For the first half of the calendar year, 38 million units were supported by new launches, discounts, and marketing, IDC says. Affordability remains a key growth lever, although that also means the overall average selling price (ASP) declined by 7.2% YoY in 2Q22.
“Demand for wearables has moved beyond urban centers by appealing to the aspirational consumers in smaller cities and towns,” said Navkendar Singh, Associate Vice President of Devices Research at IDC India, South Asia & ANZ. “This has been driven by marketing and pricing efforts by key brands and supported by aggressive e-tailer sales events, since the overall category remains online heavy.”
IDC is forecasting “record shipments” of more than 90 million in 2022.
Bucking the trend of slumping device demand
Singh added the wearables market is bucking the trend of tapering demand seen in the overall devices space.
“As consumers look for exciting designs and a better feature set in a device complementing their smartphone, they are willing to experiment and spend on these devices,” he said.
As per IDC data, watch-based wearables continues to be the fastest-growing category, shipping 6.4 million units, up 298.4% year-on-year. With a strong push for entry-level price points, the ASP for watch-based wearables declined 28.9% YoY to $45.1 (vs $63.4 a year ago).
Basic watches continue to dominate with 95.2% market share, growing 306.4% annually in 2Q22. Wristbands declined 63.0% YoY as weaker demand continues to restrict its growth.
Hearables accounted for 72.6% of the overall wearables category. TWS devices now account for half of earwear shipments, growing 187.4% YoY.
Upasana Joshi, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India said that brands continue to compete on lowering the price points which ensured a healthy growth in 1H22.
“In addition to the affordability, the features earlier available at mid-high price points – such as Bluetooth calling, bigger screen sizes, and AMOLED displays – are getting introduced at lower price points,” she said. “This is attracting both first-time users and upgraders.”
Wearables brands in India, ranked
Imagine Marketing, which sells BoAt branded products, led with a 34.3% market share in 2Q22, growing 76.6% YoY. The company focused on the expansion of earwear devices (leading with a 42.8% share in TWS) and widening its portfolio of watch-based wearables (ranking third with a 19.7% share), which aided the company’s growth in the quarter.
Nexxbase, which sells Noise branded products, ranked second place with an 11.5% market share. It regained its leadership in the watch-based wearables category with a 28.5% share in 2Q22, growing 296.6% annually. Nexxbase ranked second in TWS with an 8% market share.
Chinese premium smartphone maker OnePlus finished third in the overall wearables category, growing 129.7% YoY. It remains heavily focused on earwear, ranking second in that category with an 11.9% share. OnePlus ranks fifth in the TWS category.
Fire – Boltt grew 1,432.5% YoY to finish fourth in the overall wearables sector in 2Q22, while claiming the no.2 spot in watch-based wearables with a 24.8% share.
Fast growing Chinese brand Realme grew by 87.9% YoY in 2Q22 with major volumes coming from wireless earwear products.
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