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India’s wearables market lifted 144% in 2020

India’s wearables market recorded triple-digit growth in 2020, led by a spike in demand for earwear devices, primarily for remote working and learning, coupled with the upgrading of wrist bands to watches by Indian consumers.

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For the twelve-month period, the wearables market in India lifted 144.3% compared to 2019, accounting for 36.4 million units, according to the worldwide quarterly wearable device tracker report by International Data Corp.

The most recent October to December quarter witnessed the most growth, up 198% year-on-year, or 15.2 million units.

By category, earwear grew 258% annually in 2020 to 30.4 million units, compared to the previous year. It was also the largest category, accounting for 83.6% of the overall wearables market, up from 57% a year ago.

The Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) segment was the most sought after among earwear in 2020, growing 10-fold with shipments of 11.3 million units, added IDC.

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

Popular brands in the earwear category included India’s BoAt, which made up one-third of the shipments, followed by Samsung, whose brand portfolio includes JBL, Harman Kardon, and Infinity.

Watches accounted for 7.3% of the total wearable market with 2.6 million unit shipments in 2020, up 139.3% on 2019. India brand Noise led the watch category with a 24.5% share followed by China’s Realme, which saw 15.7% market share in 2020.

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Smartwatches made up 24.5% of the watch category, and Apple was the most sought after brand with a 51% market share, the report said.