Indian wearables market to grow 2.1% YoY in Q1 2024: IDC

According to IDC's India Monthly Wearable Device Tracker, India's wearable device market grew 2.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 25.6 million units in 1Q24.

This growth was limited by high holiday quarter inventory in the second half of 2023. The average selling price (ASP) for wearables fell 17.8% from $22.62 to $18.59, the lowest on record.

1Q24 Key Highlights: India's Wearables Market

Smart watch market

• Shipments Decline: Smartwatch shipments fell for the first time since 4Q18, down 7.3% year-over-year to 9.6 million units.
• Market share decline: Smartwatches' share of wearables declined to 37.6% from 41.4% in 1Q23.
• Average selling price: ASP for smartwatches decreased from $29.24 to $20.65, due to sales events and discounts.
• Advanced smartwatches: The share of advanced smartwatches increased from 2.0% to 3.2%.

Headphone market

• Shipment Growth: Headphone shipments increased 8.3% year over year to 15.9 million units.
• TWS segment: The share of the Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) segment increased from 63.8% to 70.1%, representing a year-on-year increase of 19%.
• Other Headphones: Shipments of other types of headphones (tethered and over-ear) were down 10.6%.
• Average selling price: ASP for earmuffs fell 7.3% to $16.62.

Market share and supplier performance

• Top vendors: The top five vendors (BoAt, Noise, Fire-Bolt, Boult and Oppo) maintained their positions, although their collective market share decreased from 63.9% to 59.9%.
• Smartwatch category: High inventory levels led to a decline in shipments for the top three vendors, but Titan and BeatXP saw their shipments double and triple, respectively.
• Headphone category: All five major vendors, except Boult, increased their shipments.

Retail and distribution trends

• Offline channel growth: The percentage of offline channels increased to 37.9% from 26.1% in 1Q23.
• Online Channel Decline: Online shipments fell 14.1% year-over-year, marking the second consecutive quarter of decline.
• Retail partnerships: Vendors are expanding retail presence through partnerships with national and regional retail chains and bundling wearables with products such as smartphones and laptops.

Anand Priya Singh, market analyst at IDC India, points out that retail partnerships and product bundling can reignite growth in the festive sales period later this year.

Emerging categories

Smart Rings: 64,000 smart rings were shipped in 1Q24, with an ASP of $173.06. Ultrahuman led this market with a 43.9% share, followed by Pi Ring with 40.1% and Aabo with 8.4%.

Market perspectives

According to Vikas Sharma, senior market analyst at IDC India, the smartwatch market in India is starting to show signs of slowing due to limited innovation and difficulty in encouraging customers to upgrade.

IDC expects a low double-digit decline in smartwatch shipments by 2024. However, hearing aid shipments are expected to grow in the mid-single digits, driven by advances in AI and features like active noise cancellation.

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