NEW DELHI: India’s wearable devices market witnessed an impressive 29.2% annual growth, shipping 48.1 million units in the third quarter (July-September 2023), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC)’s data. This brings the total shipments for the first three quarters of 2023 to 105.9 million units, surpassing the 100.1 million units shipped in 2022.
The reason for the growth is attributed to the continuous new model launches by the brands across price points and product categories. Data show that apart from the new smartwatch and earwear models, smart rings have also become prominent.
The overall average selling price (ASP) declined by 20.4% from $27.2 to $21.7. “Brands have upped the game with high-end specifications at entry-level pricing. This, combined with high-decibel marketing campaigns and promotions, will drive 4Q23 shipments, resulting in strong double-digit annual growth in 2023,” said Vikash Sharma, senior market analyst (wearable devices) at IDC India.
Top products
In terms of products, smartwatches remained the fastest-growing category with 16.9 million units, experiencing a 41.0% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth as incumbent vendors aggressively shipped to stock up for the upcoming festive season.
Heavy discounting and offers across channels contributed to a 35.3% y-o-y drop in smartwatch ASPs to $26.7 in 3Q23. The share of earwear devices dropped to 64.4% from 67.3% a year ago, but shipments still grew 23.6% to 30.9 million units. Within the earwear segment, the Truly Wireless Stereo category captured a 68.4% share with a robust y-o-y growth of 46.7%, whereas neckbands declined 6.9%.
Top 5 brands
In terms of companies, boAt (Imagine Marketing) continues to dominate the overall wearable market with a 29.7% share, experiencing a 19.4% growth. In the TrueWireless Stereo (TWS) segment, it maintained a leadership position with a 37.9% share and 33.3% y-o-y growth. The company holds the third position in the smartwatch category with a 14.2% market share. Noise (Nexxbase) secured the second spot in overall wearables with a 10.8% share and flat 0.6% y-o-y shipment growth. It dropped to the second position in the smartwatch category with a 20.7% market share and maintained its fourth position in the TWS segment with a 7.7% share, growing by 20.4% y-o-y.
The third position was secured by Fire Boltt. The company holds a total share of 8.7% and witnessed a growth of 25.7% y-o-y in the overall wearable category. It reclaimed leadership in the smartwatch category with a 23.6% share, experiencing a 27.0% y-o-y growth.
The fourth position is claimed by the Chinese mobile maker OPPO (OPPO + OnePlus)with an 8.5% share and a growth of 12.1% y-o-y. The company secured the third position in TWS with an 8% share, growing 30.4% y-o-y, and held the second position in neck bands with a 26.3% share. Boult Audio secured the fifth position with a 5.8% share and an impressive 267.6% y-o-y growth in 3Q23. It retained second place in the TWS category with an 8.6% share and a remarkable 387.7% growth.
Offline or online market?
In terms of market, the offline channels reached a record 31.5% share, the highest since 1Q21, growing by 58.3% y-o-y. Online channels grew 19.1% y-o-y due to multiple upcoming sales events and festive stockings. This underlines the importance of an omnichannel presence for brands, especially as they expand into Tier 3/4 cities.
As per the IDC report, the smart ring category is generating a lot of interest from consumers, particularly due to the interesting form factor and several launches in the past few months.
“Smart rings add novelty to the wearable device space, with brands trying to position it as a fashion accessory and a non-intrusive health device. While currently there are very few models, we can expect more mainstream brands to launch more affordable options next year,” said Upasana Joshi, research manager(client devices) at IDC India.