Even as Covid-19 disrupted companies and impacted trade final year, the pandemic came as a blessing for earwear and watches as these categories posted record shipments in the 2020 calendar year on the back of massive demand from understand-from-property (LFH) and work-from-property (WFH).
According to IDC, India’s wearable industry recorded a 144.3% year-on-year development in 2020 with 36.4-million-unit shipments. Under this segment, the earwear category accounted for 83.6% of the general wearable industry share to hit 30.4-million-unit shipments in 2020.
“India was the only country in the top 20 to see triple-digit growth in wearables in 2020 and continues to be the third-largest wearables market globally. This growth was majorly driven by the increasing acceptance of earwear devices and upgrades to watches from wrist bands, both recording their highest annual shipments in 2020,” IDC India stated.
Earwear device shipments grew more than threefold in 2020 compared to 2019 primarily driven by reasonably priced launches and expanding use circumstances beyond entertainment like virtual meetings and e-finding out needs. Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) devices had been the prime gainer with a ten-fold improve in shipments at 11.3 million units in 2020, it added.
In this category, BoAt emerged as the greatest player accounting for one-third of the shipments. Samsung with its portfolio which includes JBL, Harman Kardon, Infinity completed second with a 14.5% share in 2020. The boAt also led the TWS segment with a 24.6% share, followed by Realme with a 13.5% share in 2020.
“Hearables became one of the most sought-after electronic categories in 2020. TWS category saw the much-needed price corrections with several vendors launching devices at more affordable price points leading to the drop in the average selling price of TWS to $45 (Rs 3,200) in 2020 from $110 (Rs 8,000) in 2019,” IDC India industry analyst, Anisha Dumbre stated.
Watches grew drastically as demand for wrist bands declined for the duration of 2020. The category witnessed a 139.3% Y-o-Y development with 2.6 million- unit shipped in 2020. Noise led the watch category with a 24.5% share in 2020 followed by Realme with a 15.7% share in the year. Smartwatches, which can run third-party applications on the device, accounted for a 24.5% share in the watch category. Apple continues to lead the smartwatch category with a 51% share in 2020.
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However, wristbands declined by 34.3% Y-o-Y in 2020, considering that peaking in 2019, with 3.3-million-unit shipments. After the introduction of wrist bands into the Indian industry, 2020 has been the very first year when this category reported a decline. The escalating reputation of watches at related cost points to that of wristbands is the most important issue of the decline of wristbands. With a 46.7% share, Xiaomi continued to lead the category. Realme, which entered the segment in 2020 completed second with a 12.3% share.
The October-December 2020 quarter recorded the greatest quarter for wearables in India, preserving triple-digit development. Overall, vendors shipped 15.2 million units in Q4 2020, expanding 198.2% YoY. This was the very first quarter when shipments of watches crossed the one million mark as vendors shipped 1.3 million units for the duration of the quarter.