Falling smartwatch sales cause first time decline in India’s wearables market

India’s wearable device market, which includes smartwatches, wristbands, and smart rings, has declined for the first time ever, according to a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC), which attributes the decline to cautious inventory stocking by vendors for clearing old stock before the festive season and also fewer new launches.
The decline was 10% year-over-year (YoY) to 29.5 million units. The first half of 2023-24 saw a 4.7% decline, with 55.1 million units shipped.
The average selling price (ASP) for all wearables also hit a record low, declining by 10.3% from $21.0 to $18.8 in the second quarter of 2023-24.
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Online channels are currently the preferred mode of selling wearables, with the share increasing to 63.4% in the second quarter of 2023-24 from 62% in the first quarter of 2023-24.
“The offline channel remains underutilized, often serving merely as a means for brands to offload excess inventory. Due to cost pressures, many brands are shifting their focus toward e-tailer channels, particularly during festive periods. While several smaller brands rely on offline channels, the major players remain heavily dependent on online channel,” said Anand Priya Singh, Market Analyst, Smart Wearable Devices, IDC India.
The smartwatch category (which excludes traditional analog and digital watches) continued to struggle, declining by 27.4% YoY to 9.3 million units. This is because of inventory of previous generation models and the exhaustion of innovation in this space restricting growth.
The share of smartwatches within wearables dropped to 31.5% from 39.0% in the second quarter of 2023-24.
The average selling price for smartwatches dropped to $20.6 from $25.6 a year ago due to price cuts for clearing inventory as well as discounts/offers by brands.
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The Smartwatch category is divided into Advanced Smartwatches like the Apple Watch and Wear OS watches, and Basic Smartwatches like the Noise watches, and BoAt watches.
Advanced smartwatches grew by 21.9%, with the market share increasing from 1.5% to 2.5%.
The earwear category remained flat, growing by 0.7% with 20.1 million units.
Within earwear, the share of Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) segment reached a record 71.0% from 65.5% a year ago, growing by 9.1%.
Earwear others (which includes Tethered and Over Ear) shipments declined by 16.1% with 5.8 million units.
The average selling price of earwear declined by 4.2% to $17.2.
The smart ring category continued to grow, with more than 72,000 smart rings shipped in the second quarter of 2024 at an average selling price of $204.6.
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Ultrahuman had a 48.4% market share, followed by Pi Ring at 27.5% and Aabo at third with a 10.5% share.
More affordable smart rings are expected to be launched during the upcoming festive season in the next few months, according to the report.
The wristband category continued to grow at a rate of 23.4% in shipments.
“Several new model launches by incumbent brands are expected during the upcoming festive season which may help in arresting this decline,” said Vikas Sharma, Senior Market Analyst, Smart Wearable Devices, IDC India. “However, the annual shipments for smartwatches are expected to decline by 10% in 2024. We will also possibly see refreshed smartwatch portfolios by the smartphone vendors at low to mid-price segments.”