Shipments of smart wearables in India reportedly jumped 165% in the July-September quarter thanks to an increased emphasis on remote work and rising health awareness in the country. According to data from global market research and analysis firm, IDC, the wearables market in the country posted a record quarter with 11.8 million units shipped in Q3, 2020, marking the highest quarterly shipments till date.
Strong demand for earwear devices and smartwatches propelled this growth as both categories recorded their biggest quarter of shipments on the back of increased competition and falling prices. Smart wristbands grew 83.3% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), although, it declined 20.3% year-on-year (YoY) as users started upgrading to smartwatches, which grew a whopping 119.9% YoY with shipments of 778,000 units, making it the biggest quarter for the category in India since its launch.
Homegrown brand, Noise, led the segment with a 28.5% category share, while Realme replaced Huami for the second position with a 24.2% share of the category. The earwear category also hit an all-time high, with shipments growing 260.5% YoY. Boat Lifestyle, with multiple launches during the quarter, led the category with a 32.4% share, followed by Samsung (including Infinity, Harman Kardon and JBL) with a 15% share. Boat also led the overall TWS category with a 26.1% share, said the report.
The IDC data comes just a day after a report from Counterpoint Research suggested a similar pattern, revealing that India’s overall TWS market grew an astronomical 723% YoY in Q3 2020 as it managed to defy the pandemic-induced economic slowdown. As per that report, Boat rose to the top of the TWS segment in the country amidst increasing calls to boycott Chinese goods and services in favor of Indian brands, although, Xiaomi and Realme stayed put at numbers two and three, respectively.
