Wearables market in India to hit 117 million next year, to beat US

Growth next year, they added, will be led by smartwatches and on the back of brands trying to crack the offline segment, bringing in new features and form factors.

However, analysts expect the rate of growth to fall sharply to 17% on-year from a steep 51% in 2022, amid worries of an economic downturn as well as an expected saturation of the high selling audio accessories segment.

Smartwatches and earwear are nowhere close to their final form and there are a multitude of advancements that the market can expect in the next year in terms of features and form factors, Amit Khatri, co-founder of wearables maker Noise, told ET.
“There would be a significant shift in focus from just consumer acquisition to retention, and hence innovation both in terms of hardware and insights,” he added.

Khatri expects a spike in demand for the calling functionality in smartwatches, along with increased demand among children and the elderly, which the brand will cater to with its expanding portfolio.

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“As for earwear, we would see higher demand for ANC (active noise cancellation) and ENC (environmental noise cancellation) to gain traction and adoption,” Khatri added.

Personal audio brand Mivi, which entered the smartwatches space for the first time this month, believes next year’s growth will be fuelled by better sensors, smarter analytics and content on nutrition, fitness in the companion apps.

“The metrics are already available in terms of heart rate measurement, oxygen monitoring and the like. It is now more about having better components. We are also bringing in a lot of content on the app that may help in stickiness,” said Midula Devabhaktuni, co-founder of Mivi.

Single-chipset Bluetooth calling is a growing preference because it is more battery optimized and provides better call quality, said Abhilash Panda, CEO of wearables brand Dizo, which is part of the Realme TechLife ecosystem. “Lesser bezel, bigger dials and brighter displays are becoming a trend,” Panda said.

Fire-boltt, another smartwatch brand, will move into tracking niche sports like scuba diving, golf, and tennis along with a coaching and nutrition platform and a community push to keep users engaged, chief executive Arnav Kishore told ET.

Overall growth is expected to taper going forward as the earwear segment is saturating, and likely to slow down, said Navkendar Singh, associate vice president, IDC India.

“While audio is not a new category, smartwatches are a whole new discovery for consumers, and the wrist has been an untapped real estate,” he said.

The earwear segment grew 33.6% on-year in the third quarter this year, according to IDC India, while the smartwatch segment grew at a whopping 178.8% in the same period.

A likley economic downturn – which would dent consumer confidence and change buying behaviour in favour of essentials rather than luxuries – may play spoilsport in the coming year, Noise’s Khatri said, though large domestic demand will see India handling the recession well.

“As a brand, Noise is also expecting such a situation on the business end. This goes in line with our aim of deeply penetrating into the offline space, and expanding across the portfolio,” Khatri added.