India’s wearables market, which includes earwear devices, wrist bands and smartwatches, saw a record quarter as shipments hit 11.8 million in the third quarter of 2020 (June to September), according to the latest report by International Data Corporation (IDC). The segment had an impressive 165.1% year-over-year (YoY) growth, and the quarter also saw the highest shipments to date, notes the research firm.
According to IDC, the strong demand for earwear devices and watches propelled this growth. Further wearable devices have become more affordable with the average selling price of watches coming down to $111 in the third quarter of 2020. This has allowed more consumers to jump from simple wristbands, which are typically more affordable to watches.
Similarly, the average price of true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones has dropped by 48.6 percent in the quarter. It stood at $57 or Rs 4200. IDC says that TWS now contributes to 39.7 percent of the overall earwear category as close to 4 million TWS devices were shipped with the category seeing four-digit annual growth of 1156.3% in third quarter.
“The pandemic has created a new norm of learning and working from home. Virtual meetings, online classes, and increased time spent on entertainment have led to an intensified demand for earwear devices. Vendors are capitalizing on this rising trend, addressing the growing consumer demand and launching affordable devices, making the overall earwear category more accessible”, Anisha Dumbre, Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India said in a press statement.
Wristbands, Watches
Wristbands grew 83.3 percent quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) in 3Q20 after seeing a sequential decline in the first half of the year. However, the category declined by 20.3 percent as users started upgrading to watches. Xiaomi maintained its lead, accounting for more than half of the category shipments with a 52.4 percent share in the quarter. Realme stood second with a 14.6 percent share in the category.
Watches grew by 119.9 percent YoY in 3Q20 with 7,78,000 units shipped in the country, making it the biggest quarter since the launch of the category in India. Indian-brand Noise led the segment with a 28.5 percent category share, followed by Realme, which had 24.2 percent share in the segment. “The pandemic has reinforced the importance of fitness in our life. The motivation of staying fit and leading a healthy lifestyle is now forcing users to upgrade to more sophisticated wearable devices with greater expectations around improved health tracking,”Jaipal Singh , Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India commented.
Earwear
Increased demand for wireless devices supported the earwear category which saw 260.5 percent YoY growth. The leader in category was BoAt with multiple launches during the quarter with a 32.4 percent share, followed by Samsung that includes devices from Samsung, Infinity, Harman Kardon, and JBL with a 15.0 percent share. BoAt also led the overall TWS category with a 26.1 percent share, followed by Realme, which secured the second position with a 15.5 percent market share. Another report from Counterpoint Research also placed boAt as the leader in the category, followed by Xiaomi and Realme.