India’s wearables market grew 56.4% in September quarter: IDC

A total of 75 million wearables were shipped in the first three quarters of 2022, the report said. IDC attributed this growth to aggressive stocking of inventory by brands for festive season sales as well as heavy promotions and discount offers on products across both offline and online channels.

Huge discounts and aggressive pricing also made wearables more affordable. IDC reported that the average selling price (ASP) for wearables declined by 13.6% during the quarter. This is in stark contrast to other electronics segments such as smartphones and PCs, which ASP has seen significant growth in 2022.

Vikas Sharma, Senior Vikas Sharma said, “We will see larger screen sizes, AMOLED displays, physical or e-SIM connectivity in the affordable segment, while the premium segment will see more offerings with curved/edge-to-edge screens and NFC enabled for payments. heading towards.” Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India said in a statement.

Within wearables, smartwatches were the fastest growing segment with a growth rate of 178.8% YoY on the back of 12 million unit shipments of smartwatches from both basic and advanced categories. Smartwatch ASP fell 30.3% year-on-year and now costs $41 (approx.) $60 (approx.) as opposed to $3,313. 4,849), a year ago.

Basic smartwatch shipments grew 187% year-on-year and contributed 95.5% of the overall smartwatch market. Basic smartwatches include products that offer larger screens and more features than basic wristbands, but don’t have advanced features like an app marketplace or maps for navigation or news updates.

In terms of unit shipments, the earwear category was the largest segment among wearables with a market share of 67.3%. Within earwear, the TWS (truly wireless stereo) segment which includes wireless earbuds accounted for 57.6% of earwear shipments, growing at 94.4% YoY. Meanwhile, shipments of over-the-ear headphones fell 50% YoY, while wired earphones grew at a modest 2.5% YoY.

Indian brands dominate the wearables market in India with Imagine Marketing, which sells products under the BoAt brand, topping the list with a 32.1% market share with 19.5% YoY growth. Nexbase, which sells under the Shore brand, was the second leading wearable brand with a market share of 13.8%. Another Indian brand Fire-bolt moved to the third position with 8.9% market share and triple digit growth rate of 395%.

Chinese phone brand OnePlus fell to fourth place, although its shipments grew by 107.6% year-on-year. Realme was the only brand in the top five to see a decline in shipments (18.5% YoY) in the September quarter.

Furthermore, IDC predicts that by the end of CY2022, India will overtake the US to become the second largest wearables market in terms of unit shipments after China.

Upasana Joshi, Research Manager, Client Devices at IDC India said 30% of wearables will be made in India by the end of the year with the expansion of local manufacturing and increased partnerships with ODMs.