Focus on fitness spurs Indians to smartwatches

Overall wearables market, including earwear and wristbands, was 23.8 million units in third quarter

Driven by a pandemic-induced shift in consumer awareness about health and fitness, smartwatches are seeing tremendous growth in India. Shipments surged fourfold to a record in the July-September quarter.

“The third quarter of 2021 was the biggest quarter for smartwatches,” said Anshika Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Counterpoint. “We have seen that because of COVID-19, there has been a change in customer preferences. People are shifting to smartwatches from traditional watches. They are looking for health-related features such as tracking steps, SPO2 level, heart rate or their sleep pattern on an ongoing basis… this is a triggering factor,” she added.

While the overall wearables market in India, which includes earwear, watches and wristbands, was 23.8 million units in the third quarter, watches continued to be the fastest-growing category with 4.3 million shipments during the period. Wristbands, which offer a lower-level of functionality, saw a seventh consecutive quarter of annual decline, according to data released by IDC. The demand for smartwatches extends beyond youngsters, as many health features appeal to the older generations as well, Ms. Jain observed.