India’s Wearable Market Grew by 34% in 2023, boAT Losing Market Share

2023 ended with the Indian market achieving a 34% growth in the segment year on year, totaling a record 134.2 million units, according to the latest monthly wearable device tracker report by the International Data Corporation (IDC). The fourth quarter of 2023 alone saw 28.4 million units growing 12.7% year on year.

This growth occurred during the festival season, which was further bolstered by promotional offers and discounts from various brands that also suffered from overstocking issues. The average selling price of wearables, however, declined by 15.4% from $25 to $21.2 in the fourth quarter of 2023. The report also reveals that Indian consumer electronics giant boAT is losing market share across product categories to rivals.

Smartwatch shipments grew 73.7% to 53.4 million units shipped. Their share amongst wearables also jumped from 39.7% in 2022 to 39.8% in 2023. Discounting and festival season offers led to a drop in the average selling price from $42.5 to $26.1. The share of advanced smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch and the Apple Watch dropped from 4.5% to 2.1%, accounting for just 1.1 million units.

The earphone category registered a 16.9% year on year growth, enabling it to reach 80.4 million units. This includes TWS earphones which have a record 67.3% share from 55.3% in 2022, growing to 42.3% year on year, while neckbands have dropped in popularity by 15.2%. The average selling price of this category has also gone down by 8.2% to $18.2.

India’s top three brands were unsurprisingly BoAT, Noise, and Fire-Bolt respectively. Boult Audio was a huge gainer in the top 5 players, and BeatXP, a new entrant in the smartwatch category, managed to enter the top brands list for the segment thanks to aggressive marketing. Tata-owned Titan also claimed fourth place in the segment.

Shipments of offline channels outgrew online sales, accounting for 55% year on year growth. Offline channel share also grew by 31% in 2023, up by 26.7% in 2022.

“Affordability, low product penetration and a plethora of options led to a surge in demand for smartwatches. However, the growing popularity of non-branded watches is impacting the incumbents, offering cheap alternatives of popular models, and are even bundled with multiple watch straps. These offerings essentially dilute the first-time user experience making it imperative for incumbent vendors to find alternate ways to attract first-time users,” says Anand Priya Singh, Market Analyst, Wearable Devices, IDC India.

The smart ring category also started growing with more than 100,000 smart rings being shipped in the 2nd half of 2023 with an average selling price of $171.6. Ultrahuman emerged as a leader of this category with 43.1% market share in Q4. It was followed closely by Pi Ring with 42.3% market share, with Aabo having third place with 7.9%.

“IDC estimates single-digit growth for wearables in 2024. Vendors will hasten their omnichannel strategy which is still dominated by the online channel (e-tailer). This will require unique distribution partnerships and more affordable products to access Tier 3 cities & beyond. In 2024, we will see a proliferation of smartwatches with LTE SIM/eSIM connectivity, advanced health sensors, and multiple GPS navigation. In earwear, premium features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and multi-device pairing will be available at affordable pricing,” says Vikas Sharma, Senior Market Analyst, Wearable Devices, IDC India.

Overall, boAT has a 19.2% market share of all wearables but its share declined year on year by 9.6%. Noise and Fire-Bolt made gains of 30.8% and 42.6% respectively. In the smartwatch category, Fire-Bolt and Noise again grew at the expense of boAT, which was a negative 16.9% in market share, while Fire-Bolt is the leader in smartwatches in India with 49.3% growth and overall market share of 22.2%. Noise had a 19% overall share and it grew at 19.6% year on year. boAT was left with just 9.8% market share. Titan grew massively out of nowhere with 331.6% growth and it is already on boAT’s heels at 8.7% market share.

In the TWS category, boAT remains the leader with 26.7% market share, but it is again losing market share with it being down by 16.1%. Boult Audio is number two with 11.9% market share and it grew steadily by 2.5% year on year. Noise grew massively with 108.7% growth year on year and a 10.8% market share. Oppo and Oneplus combined to just 4.2% of the overall market and they lost a massive 44.6% of the market share year on year, but that can also be attributed to more premium products.