India wearable market grew in triple digits in 2020
- India has become the only country in the top 20 to register growth in three digits
India wearables market grew 144.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in CY2020 with 36.4 million unit shipments. With this, India has become the only country in the top 20 to register growth in three digits, International Data Corporation (IDC) reported in its latest worldwide quarterly wearable device tracker.
Shipments in the fourth quarter (Oct-Dec 2020) grew at even higher 198% annually on back of 15.2 million units.
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IDC has attributed the phenomenal growth to the pandemic led spike in demand for earwear devices for remote working and learning. Also, more people upgraded from wrist bands to watches during the year.
Shipment of earwear grew 258% annually in CY2020 to 30.4 million units as compared with the previous year, accounting for 83.6% of the overall wearable market. Earwear market share was 57% a year ago.
“Hearables became one of the most sought-after electronic categories in 2020. The newer versions of hearables are much better in managing the increased audio usage and improved aesthetic and design also made them the trendsetter," Anisha Dumbre, market analyst, IDC India said in a statement.
Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) was the most sought-after segment in earwear in 2020, growing ten-fold with 11.3 million unit shipments.
“TWS category saw the much-needed price corrections with several vendors launching devices at more affordable price points leading to the drop in the average selling price of TWS to $45 in 2020 from $110 in 2019," added Dumbre.
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Homegrown brand, BoAt, dominated the earwear market with one-third of the shipments, followed by Samsung with 14.5% market share. Samsung’s audio portfolio includes various sub-brands such as JBL, Harman Kardon and Infinity. BoAt also led the TWS segment with a 24.6% share.
In comparison with earwear, watches accounted for only 7.3% of the total wearables market with 2.6 million unit shipments, but it grew at an impressive 139.3%. On the other hand, with 3.3 million unit shipments, market share of wristbands declined 34% annually.
Homegrown brand, Noise, led the watch category with 24.5% share followed by Chinese brand Realme which had 15.7% market share in CY2020.
In the smartwatches segment, which accounted for 24.5% of the overall watch category, Apple was the most sought-after brand with 51% market share.
IDC expects further migration to more sophisticated devices in earwear category as users would seek more enhanced audio experience. Also, watch segment will continue to draw users away from wristbands.
“The high cost associated with wearable watches is not much of a challenge anymore. The watch form factor is now seen as more appealing to the consumers, and vendors will leverage this shift by further expanding their watches portfolio in coming quarters," Jaipal Singh , associate research manager, Client Devices, IDC India said in a statement.
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