India wearables market grew 170.3% YoY in Q1 2021: IDC

India’s wearables market rose 170.3% year-over-year (YoY) in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest data from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker. India saw a shipment of 11.4 million units during the period, the report added.

According to IDC, watch and earwear categories recorded the highest ever first-quarter shipments in India. Watches rose 463.8% YoY in Q1 2021 to emerge as the fastest-growing wearable category. Earwear also saw a triple-digit growth during the period. The overall wristwear category, inclusive of wrist bands and watches, rose 74.8% YoY in the first quarter.

Despite growth in a few categories, shipments for overall wearables declined by 24.9% sequentially in Q1 2021, mainly due to a drop in earwear shipments. The category recorded a decline of 28.6% QoQ in Q1 2021. The slump comes after reporting growth in three quarters in a row. IDC says the dip is attributed to the leftover inventory with channel partners as it limited the fresh purchases in this quarter.

Category-wise highlights

According to IDC, the wristbands category declined by 22.4% YoY in Q1, recording 760,000 units of shipments.

The Q1 saw a total of 1.4 million units shipments for watches. Noise led the category with a 26.7% share, followed by BoAt with a 21.9% share.

The earwear category grew 209.3% YoY with 9.3 million shipments in the first quarter of the year. BoAt continued to lead the overall earwear category with a 29.3% share.

The Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) category grew 284.4% YoY with a 35.0% share in the overall earwear category. The ASP of the TWS devices further declined by 39.4% YoY in 1Q21. BoAt also led this category with a 25.6% share.

“From style to health monitoring, the wearables have now become one of the most sophisticated devices in recent times. The category is witnessing a constant shift in the competitive landscape with new players entering the segment, Jaipal Singh, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, said in a release.

Singh adds, “The second wave of the pandemic has caused a sudden stir across vendors and channel partners, impacting the planned launches to postpone and delay in deliveries. However, over last year, the value of wearables has rapidly expanded, and hence, the demand for these devices is expected to continue strong in 2021.”