India’s wearable market logs 11.2 million units in second quarter: IDC

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According to research firm IDC, India’s wearables market grew by 118.2% YoY in the June 2021 quarter at 11.2 million units. Homegrown brands in earwear and watches witnessed strong shipments fueling this growth. The overall wearables like smartwatches, wrist bands, and earwear shipments declined by 1.3% sequentially in the June quarter due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. IDC also added that partial lockdowns, weekend curfews, and disrupted supply chains resulted in a skewed slump in the early quarter shipments.

Wristwear and earwear continue to dominate

Watches continued to be the fastest-growing category, up from 35% a year ago period accounting for 81.2% share in the wristwear category that includes watches and wristbands.

It added that among the top five watch brands, three spots are captured by Indian brands, while Huami (Amazfit) and Realme are at third and fifth positions, respectively. Noise continues to be the leading player in the overall watch category for five straight quarters with a 28.6% share in the second quarter.

This new generation of homegrown brands are digitally native, aware of their limitations, and selectively targeting the gaps.

Boat ranked second with a 26.9% share. Fire-bolt, another homegrown brand, entered at fourth position in just three quarters of starting its business in this category.

Xiaomi maintained the number one spot in the wristband category with 38.9% share, followed by Oneplus 21.7% and Titan 21.3% share.

The Earwear category’s shipment doubled in the June quarter and remains the largest category in the number of units shipped as per the wearables market in India. As per the data, the earwear category’s shipment logged about 9.2 million units in the June quarter.

IDC said over the quarters, the watch form factor seems to be appealing to the consumers, and Indian brands have been quicker to leverage this trend and align their device portfolio.

The report also said that affordability has been the key for Indian brands, and these brands have been immensely successful in gaining a significant portion of the watch market with competitive pricing, aggressive marketing, and faster adoption of new features.