Indian wearable market sees remarkable triple-digit growth, Apple Watch leads the pack

Indian wearable market witnessed a record triple-digit growth in India last year, says the latest International Data Corporation (IDC) report.

Wearable shipments breached 36.4 million units, 144.3% year-over-year (YoY) growth in 2020 compared to the previous year. India is the only country in the top 20 to see triple-digit growth in wearables in 2020 and continues to be the third-largest wearables market globally, IDC noted.

It should be noted the fourth quarter (Q4) ending December 2020, is said to be the biggest quarter for wearables in India. Overall, vendors shipped 15.2 million units in 4Q20, growing 198.2% YoY.

Also, Q4 is the first quarter ever to see shipments of smartwatches crossing the one million mark as vendors shipped 1.3 million. Noise’s Colorfit pro-2, Realme watch, Apple’s watch series 6, and new launches from Amazfit provided this strong growth for watches in 4Q20, IDC noted.

While, Apple Watches topped the chart with a lion share of 51-percent market share smartwatch segment, followed by Noise with 24.5 percent share and Realme with a 15.7 percent share.

On the other hand, The basic wristband segment is dominated by Xiaomi with its Mi Band series followed by Realme.

The earwear category accounted for 83.6 percent of the overall wearable market share to hit 30.4 million unit shipments in 2020. BoAt emerged as the biggest player in the category, accounting for one-third of the category shipments. Samsung with its portfolio including JBL, Harman Kardon, Infinity finished second with a 14.5% share in 2020. BoAt also led the TWS segment with a 24.6% share, followed by Realme with a 13.5% share in 2020, reported IDC.

Credit: IDC's 2020 Wearable Shipments and Marketshare report 2020.

“Hearables became one of the most sought-after electronic categories in 2020. The newer version of wearables are much better in managing the increased audio usages and improved aesthetic and design also made them the trendsetter,” said Anisha Dumbre, Market Analyst, IDC India.

“TWS (True Wireless Stereo) 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,” Dumbre added.

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