4.2 million wearables shipped in India in Q1 2020, up 80% from last year: Report

The wearable product category comprises of wrist bands, watches, and earwear.

Carlsen Martin

June 03, 2020 / 19:54 IST

We recently reported a sharp decline in smartphone sales in the first quarter this year because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Now, a new report suggests that the sales of wearables in India are on the rise.

The latest report by IDC suggests that wearable shipments in India have increased by 80 percent on a yearly basis during January-March. The wearable product category which comprises of wrist bands, watches, and earwear registered 4.2 million unit shipments in Q1 2020.

India Wearables market, Product Categories, Market Share, Year-over-Year Growth 1Q20 (shipments in millions)

Product Category	1Q19 Shipments	1Q19 Market Share	1Q20 Shipments	1Q20 Market Share	Year-over-Year unit change (1Q20 vs 1Q19)
Earwear	0.8	32.8%	3.0	70.8%	289.2%
Wrist Band	1.4	60.9%	1.0	24.2%	-28%
Watch	0.1	6.3%	0.2	5.0%	43.3%
Total	2.3	100%	4.2	100%	80.6%

Earwear didn’t just record a sizeable growth but topped the chart with 3 million units sold in Q1 2020. Wrist bands followed with 1 million shipments, while watches only made up for 5 percent of total shipments with 200,000 units sold. The wrist band market saw a decline in year-on-year shipments, despite having the second-highest market share.

boAt audio maintained its 23.9 percent market share in the earwear sector, ahead of Samsung’s 23.6 percent market share.

In terms of true wireless earbuds, Samsung came out on top, followed by Apple. In the wrist band domain, Xiaomi maintained a substantial 41.9 percent market share, followed by GOQii electronics with a 13.6 percent share in Q1 2020.