India shipped 105.9 mn units of wearables in first 3 quarters of CY 2023: IDC

India's wearable market shipped a record 48.1M units in 3Q2023, a 29.2% YoY growth. Smartwatches led the charge with 41% YoY growth, while earwear shipments grew 23.6%. ASPs declined due to discounts & offers, but premium options drove up ASPs in basic segment. Brands focus on localisation, in-house app integration & connectivity in 2024.

India’s wearable market shipped a record 48.1 million units in the third quarter (July-September) of calendar 2023, a 29.2% year-on-year growth, reported International Data Corporation’s (IDC) India Monthly Wearable Device Tracker on Wednesday.

With this, the market shipped 105.9 million units in the first three quarters of calendar 2023, which was more than 100.1 million units shipped in the whole of 2022, the research outfit said.

“Continuous new model launches by brands across price points and product categories is the key reason for this momentum. Apart from the new smartwatch and earwear models, smart rings became prominent in 3Q23. The overall average selling price (ASPs) declined by 20.4% from $27.2 to $21.7,’‘ it further said.

Smartwatches remained the fastest growing category with 16.9 million units, growing by 41.0% YoY as incumbent vendors shipped aggressively to stock for the upcoming festive season. Heavy discounting and offers across channels led to a 35.3% YoY drop in smartwatch ASPs to $26.7 in 3Q23. However, the ASPs grew QoQ (quarter-on-quarter) by 4.3%, up from $25.6 last quarter, due to the increased share of advanced smartwatches from 1.5% to 2.4%, as well as the introduction of premium options in the basic smartwatch segment, as per IDC survey.

Within wearables, the share of earwear dropped to 64.4% from 67.3% a year ago, but shipments still grew 23.6% to 30.9 million units. Within earwear, the Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) segment took 68.4% share with strong growth of 46.7% YoY, whereas neck bands declined by 6.9% YoY. ASPs for TWS and neckbands stood at $19.5 and US$14.2 with declines of 17.1% and 4.6% YoY, respectively

On outlook, Vikas Sharma, Senior Market Analyst, Wearable Devices, IDC India said, brands have upped the game with high-end specifications at entry-level pricing. This combined with high-decibel marketing campaigns and promotions would drive 4Q23 shipments, resulting in strong double digit annual growth in 2023. “In 2024, we will see an enhanced focus on localisation of UI/UX, in-house app integration, SIM-based or standalone calling and Wi-Fi connectivity on basic smartwatches.’‘