Indians bought 4.6x more smartwatches in 2021: IDC

Smartwatches and wrist band shipments in India cumulatively grew over 2.4x in 2021, with smartwatches accounting for the lion’s share of these shipments. According to data from market research firm IDC India, a total of 14.4 million wearables were shipped through the year, with 12.2 million of them being smartwatches.

Smartwatches, in particular, saw sharp growth in 2021 as per IDC data. Shipments of smartwatches grew 4.6x over 2020, with two Indian brands being the highest benefactors of this growth. According to analysts, the biggest growth factor here has been decreasing smartwatch prices, which has caused many users to opt for smartwatches rather than basic fitness bands.

“Affordability has been one of the main drivers of such exponential growth in the wearable watch market. Competition at entry-level price points brought down the ASP of the watches to $61.3 down from $122.1 in 2020. This is putting immense pressure on new entrants and other existing brands to differentiate themselves in the market,” said Anisha Dumbre, market analyst at IDC India.

Wearable brands Boat and Fire-Boltt have seen the highest growth in shipments through 2021. According to IDC, Boat saw its market share grow from 2.8 percent in 2020 to 25.1 percent in 2021, while Fire-Boltt clocked 11.6 percent market share last year – up from a near-negligible 0.3 percent in 2020. The market was led by Indian brand Noise, which reportedly saw a 410 percent rise in shipments to capture 27 percent of the market.

While Realme and Huami, the parent company behind smartwatch brand Amazfit, both saw shipments grow, their market shares fell to 5.6 and 5.1 percent, respectively.

Going forward, analysts believe that the greater affordability could see wearables entering markets beyond the tier I circles in India. Upasana Joshi, research manager at IDC India, said, “High growth is piquing interest from new entrants ranging from first time brands to smartphone brands with marketing and distribution experience in India. India based brands will strive to drive affordability and deeper penetration in the market.”