BackWearables shipments in India jump 165% in September quarter: Report
The watches category, which includes wearables with big screen, fitness trackers and smartwatches that can install third party apps, grew 119.9% y-o-y
PremiumGrowing demand for fitness watches and earwears on the back of rising health awareness, remote working and learning requirements led to record shipment of these wearables in India during the September quarter (Q3 CY20). A total of 11.8 million wearables were shipped in the third quarter, up a whooping 165.1% year-on-year (y-o-y), according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
The watches category, which includes wearables with big screen, fitness trackers and smartwatches, that can install third party apps, jumped 119.9% y-o-y to 778,000 units, highest ever growth in Indian market. Indian lifestyle technology brand Noise, which commands 28.5% market share, dominated the category, followed by smartphone brand Realme, which has 24.2% share.
Shipments of wristbands grew 83% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) after declining during the first half. On y-o-y basis, shipments declined 20.3% as users upgraded to watches for a bigger screen and diverse features. Wristbands now account for only 8.2% of wearable market share in India, versus 27% a year ago.
Watches have become a lot more affordable with the entry of more Chinese and Indian brands. The average selling price of watches in Q3 20 was $111 (approx ₹8,197) as compared to $175 (approx ₹12,924) a year ago.
“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 said in a statement.
Though some brands launched watches and wristbands with covid-19 centric temperature and SpO2 trackers, Singh reiterated, they were still not the key drivers for growing demand in the segment.
Shipment in earwear category, which includes earphones and TWS (truly wireless stereo) grew 260.5% YoY with homegrown company BoAt accounting for 32.4% of it. Samsung and its various brands including Infinity, Harman Kardon and JBL shipped 15% of all earwears in the quarter.
The overall share of earwears in the entire wearables market has grown to 85.2% from 62.7% in Q3 20.
“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," Anisha Dumbre, market analyst, Client Devices, IDC India said in a statement.
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