Smartwatches shipments see sharp decline in India
Reading Time: 3 minutesIndia is the second-largest wearable market after China. At times, it has also been the largest smartwatch market. However, in Q2, wearable shipments in the country declined 10% year-on-year to 29.5 million units. The first half of the year, meanwhile, fell 4.7% to 55.1 million units, analyst firm IDC reported this week.
Market analysts believe this decline may widen over the coming quarters, and they place the blame firmly on smartwatches.
IDC reported the share of smartwatches in the overall wearable market dropped to 31.5% from 39% a year prior.
The top three players in the Indian smartwatch market are all domestic brands: Noise, Fire-Boltt and boAt. All saw a significant dip in Q2. The average selling price of smartwatches in India also declined to $20.6 from $25.6 a year ago as brands have cut prices to clear inventories.
But price cuts have failed to attract customers.
Jain added that smartwatches’ appeal primarily drove their hyper-growth in India over the past few years. However, she noted that this growth phase is now cooling down as the initial excitement of the segment is tapering off.
‘This is also reflected in the dwindling growth rates and a bleak outlook,’ the analyst said.
Unlike simpler models, advanced smartwatches (which have an app store and run a full-fledged operating system), saw an increase of 21.9%, with their market share growing to 2.5% from 1.5%, IDC reports.
Apple captured 0.5% of the overall smartwatch market in India by shipping around 35,000–40,000 Apple Watch units in Q2, while Samsung had a 0.9% share with 75,000–80,000 units shipped during the quarter, the firm said.
Sharma said that the market share dip for Apple and Samsung was cyclical.
‘Samsung introduced new watches at the end of Q2 along with no bundle offer; also, thanks to online sales, people usually wait for deals to come on higher price watches. For some time, Samsung had stopped the bundle offer [that used to cost its smartwatches to customers at around $36 when purchasing with a flagship smartphone],’ he stated.
The analyst also noted that the Apple Watch lineup is due for an update, so the company has largely focused on clearing out old stock.
The overall advanced smartwatch segment saw an increase in its share as some Indian companies launched new models running Android OS. That’s full Android — not Wear OS — along with the Play Store. Some companies refer to the devices as ‘WristPhones,’ as they come with a nano SIM card slot and have voice calling support.
Nevertheless, IDC forecasts the country’s annual smartwatch shipments declining by 10%. Similarly, Counterpoint believes India’s smartwatch will witness a double-digit percentage drop this year.
Headphone shipments flatten
Alongside smartwatches declines, headphones numbers remained flat in India, per IDC, with 20.1 million units shipped in Q2. That represents 0.7% YoY growth. The true wireless stereo (TWS) segment grew 9.1% YoY to a share of 71% from 65.5% a year ago. However, tethered (or neckband-styled) and over-ear headphones — which IDC lumps together — declined by 16.1% to 5.8 million units.
Domestic brands continue to dominate the segment in India, followed by Chinese smartphone vendors Oppo and its sub-brand Realme. Apple (and its subsidiary Beats) and Samsung (including sub-brands JBL, Infinity and Harman), meanwhile, accounted for 0.9% and 2.3% of total headphone shipments.
India also receives a significant number of non-branded earbuds, which are available online and in stores. IDC does not track those units, however.
‘Q3 will be very big [for headphones] compared to Q2,’ Sharma said. In contrast, smartwatches are not likely to see growth until at least 2026, according to Jain.
‘In 2026 and beyond, we expect the market to recover, driven by newer use-cases in smartwatches,’ she said.
Reference: https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/09/smartwatches-shipments-see-sharp-decline-in-india/
Ref: techcrunch
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