Boat leads Indian TWS earbuds market in Q3; Xiaomi, Realme and Apple follow

Research firm Counterpoint is out with the latest report on India’s TWS earbuds market, which is claimed to have grown a whole lot during Q3 this year. To be specific, the market grew by 723% YoY in the particular time frame. It also states that it was one of the segments that reached its highest ever growth in shipments for a single quarter.

Leading the race in Q3 2020 was Boat with 18%. This was followed by Xiaomi at 16%, Realme at 12%, JBL at 8% and Apple at 6%. “Most of the smartphone OEMs now have entered the CIOT segment and are expanding their TWS portfolios across price tiers to benefit from the huge potential it holds. Increase in ‘stay at home’ activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic have also boosted the demand for TWS. 

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The smartphone OEMs have managed to carve a significant place for themselves in the segment by leveraging their already established brand awareness and sales channels,” said analyst Shilpi Jain.

It was added that India TWS ASP increased for the first time ever since 2019. This happened primarily because of the increase in Apple AirPods shipments. One of the reasons was also Apple’s decision to not include wired earpods with iPhone 12 models. As for the products, Xiaomi’s Redmi Earbuds 2C was the best selling TWS, followed by Boat’s Airdopes 441, Realme Buds Q, Realme Buds Neo and Apple AirPods (Gen 2.).

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The Redmi Earbuds 2C sold essentially because of its promotional price of ₹999 and features likes improved call quality, comfortable fit and multi-function button. However, Boat’s Airdopes 441 was sold mainly due to affordable pricing and features like water resistance, better sound quality, USB Type-C charging and up to 25 hours of battery life.