India’s wearables market to be more sophisticated in 2021: IDC India

In 2021, the Indian wearable market is expected to migrate to more sophisticated devices with enhanced audio experience being the central theme for all vendors, says Jaspal Singh, Associate Research Manager, IDC India.

The high cost associated with wearable watches is not much of a challenge anymore, he added.

As IDC, Indian wearables market posted a 144.3 per cent year-on-year growth in 2020 with 36.4 million unit shipment. This growth was driven by increasing acceptance of earwear devices and upgrades to watches from wrist bands, both recording their highest annual shipments in 2020.

October-December 2020 period was the biggest quarter for the wearables category in the country, maintaining triple-digit growth. Overall, vendors shipped 15.2 million units in the said period, growing at 198.2 per cent year-on-year. Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) devices were the top gainer seeing a ten-fold increase with shipments totalling 11.3 million units in 2020.

The earwear segment accounted for 83.6 per cent of the overall wearable market in 2020.

Boat emerged as the biggest player in the category, accounting for one-third of the category shipments. Samsung with its portfolio - including JBL, Harman Kardon and Infinity - finished second with a 14.5 per cent share in 2020.