India's smart wearable devices market grows 56% to 37.2 million units in July-September: Report

Smart wearable devices shipment in India grew by over 56 per cent to 37.2 million units in the quarter ended September 2022, market research and analysis firm IDC said on Friday.

Imagine Marketing, which sells products under the BoAT brand name, led the market with 32.1 per cent market share.

The wearable device segment, which comprises smartwatches, wrist band and earwear, recorded 75 million units of shipments in the first nine months of 2022.

"Vendors continued to remain aggressive in their shipments to build inventory for the festive season (August-October) supported by high-decibel marketing and promotional activities across channels. Heavy discounting and offers were also rolled out during online sales events resulting in a 13.6 per cent YoY decline in average selling price (ASP) in the third quarter of 2022," IDC said in its India Monthly Wearable Device Tracker report.

Smartwatch segment grew by 178.8 per cent on year-over-year (YoY) basis to over 12 million units in September 2022 quarter from 4.3 million.

"As smartwatches continue to be in high demand across varied customer segments, the need for better specifications/accurate monitoring will be key. We will see bigger screen size (of 1.8 to 1.99 inch), AMOLED display, physical or e-Sim connectivity in the affordable segment, while the premium segment moves towards more offerings with curved, edge-to-edge screens and near filed communications enabled for payment," IDC India Senior Market Analyst for Client Devices Vikas Sharma said.

Earwear shipment grew by 33.6 per cent to over 25 million units in September quarter from 18.73 million units in the year ago period.

"Earwear accounted for 67.3 per cent of the overall wearables category. Truly wireless (TWS) dominated with 57.6 per cent share growing by 94.4 per cent YoY, tethered grew by 2.5 per cent, while over-the-ear declined by more than 50 per cent in the third quarter of 2022," the report said.

The growth in the wearable segment was mitigated by earwears that recorded about 81 per cent dip in shipment to 1,42,000 units.

Noise stood second with a 13.8 per cent market share while Fire?Boltt pipped OnePlus to occupy third place with 8.9 per cent share. OnePlus had 8.2 per cent market share during the quarter.