India wearable market registers 56.4% growth

India’s wearable market registered another record quarter, shipping 37.2 million units in 3Q22 (July-Sep), a growth of 56.4% YoY (year-over-year) according to the recent data from the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) India Monthly Wearable Device Tracker. The first nine months of the year (Jan-Sep) have seen 75-million-unit shipments. Vendors continued to remain aggressive in their shipments to build inventory for the festive season (August-October) supported by high-decibel marketing and promotional activities across channels. Heavy discounting and offers were also rolled out during online sales events resulting in a 13.6% YoY decline in average selling price (ASP) in 3Q22.

Smartwatch (inclusive of basic and advanced) remained the fastest-growing category crossing the 12.0 million shipments mark in a single quarter, a growth of 178.8% YoY. The smartwatch ASP declined by 30.3% YoY to reach $41.9 (vs $60.0 a year back). Basic smartwatches continue to dominate with a 95.5% share growing by 187.1% annually in 3Q22. Wristbands saw yet another quarter of annual decline with an 80.8% YoY shipment drop.

Earwear accounted for 67.3% of the overall wearables category. Truly wireless (TWS) dominating with 57.6% share growing by 94.4% YoY, tethered grew by 2.5%, while over-the-ear declined by more than 50% in 3Q22.

“As smartwatches continue to be in high demand across varied customer segments, the need for better specifications/accurate monitoring will be key. We will see bigger screen size (1.8/1.99 inch), AMOLED display, physical or e-Sim connectivity in the affordable segment, while the premium segment moves towards more offerings with curved/edge-to-edge screens & NFC enabled for payment,” says Vikas Sharma, Senior Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India.

3Q22 Top 5 Wearable Company Highlights

Imagine Marketing (BoAt) continues to lead with a 32.1% market share in 3Q22 growing 19.5% YoY. While the focus remains on the earwear devices (leading with 41.7% share in TWS), driven by “Airdopes 141” & “Airdopes 131”, it is also expanding its smartwatch portfolio (19.9% share at third place) with high shipments for “Xtend” & “Wave Call”.

Nexxbase (Noise) stood second with a 13.8% market share. It cemented its smartwatch leadership with a 29.5% share, growing 216.5% annually. “Colorfit Caliber” and “Colorfit Icon Buzz” accounted for more than 30% of its overall shipments. Noise also ranked second in the TWS category with a 9.3% share.

Fire – Boltt climbed to third place with a healthy 395.0% YoY growth and 8.9% share. Primarily a smartwatch brand, at second place with 26.2% market share, driven by high shipments for Ninja Pro Max, Ring 3 & Ninja Bell. Its omnichannel strategy and new celebrity endorsements helped gain volumes.

OnePlus dropped to fourth place in the overall wearable category growing by 107.6% YoY and 8.2% share. Heavily focused on the earwear category, OnePlus ranked second, with a 12.1% share, and finished third in the TWS category. Bullets Wireless Z2 contributed as the key model. It also expanded its smartwatch portfolio with the newly launched “Nord Watch”.

Realme at fifth place was the only vendor amongst the top 5, with declining shipments at (-18.5%) YoY in 3Q22. The low shipments were attributed to fewer launches and low focus in the wearable category. Though a majority of shipments were from “Buds Wireless 2 Neo” and “Buds wireless 2s” accounting for 35.7% of the overall shipments.

Others Seminole (Mivi) grew by 1921.1% YoY in the earwear category (stood at fourth place in TWS), SRK Powertech (Pebble) at fifth place in the Smartwatch segment with 1.9% share and 147.8% YoY growth. Also, Pebble is offline-centric with a plethora of new launches. Eccentric Enterprises (Truke) grew by 90.5% in the earwear category.

“The rapid proliferation of wearable devices can be attributed to the aggressive marketing and price points by India-base vendors, well supported by e-tailers. As we exit 2022, IDC estimates India to surpass the USA, to become the second-largest wearables market globally behind only PRC. Additionally, with local manufacturing scaling up, vendors are partnering with Indian ODM’s to take full advantage of government incentives, leading to 30%+ “Made in India” units by the end of 2022,” says Upasana Joshi, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.

CT Bureau