India’s Wearable Device Market Declined by 9% YoY in 2Q25 to 27 Million Units

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According to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) India Monthly Wearable Device Tracker, India’s wearable device market declined 6.3% year-over-year (YoY) in the first half of 2025 (1H25), reaching 51.6 million units. The market also recorded its fifth consecutive quarterly decline, falling 9.4% YoY to 26.7 million units in 2Q25. The average selling price (ASP) for overall wearables saw a modest increase of 2.2% YoY to $19.2 in 2Q25, while it remained flat in 1H25 at $18.7.

Key Highlights of 2Q25:

- Smartwatch shipments declined for the sixth consecutive quarter, dropping 28.4% YoY to 6.6 million units in 2Q25. The category’s share within the overall wearables market also fell, decreasing to 24.9%, down from 31.5% a year ago.

After witnessing explosive growth in 2022 and 2023, the smartwatch market is now consolidating, primarily due to demand fatigue and saturation in the entry-level segment.

Despite declining volumes, average selling prices (ASPs) increased by 5.1% YoY, rising from $20.6 to $21.7 in 2Q25. Advanced smartwatches were also impacted, with shipments falling 39.5% YoY and their market share declining from 2.5% to 2.1%.

- Earwear category saw a marginal decline of 1.2% YoY, reaching 19.9 million units in 2Q25, following strong double-digit growth in the previous two quarters.

Within earwear:

- Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) segment maintained its dominant position with a 71.2% share, though shipments declined 1.2% YoY.

- Neckband-style earwear saw a more significant drop, with shipments down 16.1% YoY.

- In contrast, the over-the-ear segment recorded strong growth, with shipments surging 97.4% YoY to 1.5 million units.

- The average selling price (ASP) for earwear grew modestly by 1.1% YoY, reaching US$17.4.

Vendor Performance – 2Q25

In the overall wearables category, boAt (Imagine Marketing) maintained its leadership, increasing its market share from 26.7% to 28.0% YoY.

- In the TWS (Truly Wireless Stereo) segment, boAt continued to lead with a 31.9% share, followed by Boult with a 14.9% share, registering notable YoY growth.

- In the over-the-ear segment, boAt posted exceptional growth of 198.4%, capturing a dominant 44.4% share.

- In the smartwatch category, Noise (Nexxbase) retained its top position with a 30.9% share, while boAt rose to second place with a 13.7% share. Among the top 10 smartwatch vendors, Xiaomi stood out with the highest YoY growth, recording a 145.5% increase in shipments.

Channel Performance – 2Q25

Online channel declined by 13.8% YoY, while the offline channel saw a milder decline of 1.8%.

Online share fell from 63.4% to 60.3% in 2Q25. The decline was driven primarily by the smartwatch category, where online shipments fell sharply by 37.2% YoY. Online earwear shipments also declined, though more modestly, by 4.2% YoY. In contrast, Offline earwear shipments grew by 4.4% YoY, showing resilience in that segment. Offline smartwatch shipments declined by 14.8% YoY, though less steeply than online.

Smartwatch Market Outlook: Mid-Premium Pivot and White-Label Growth

The first half of 2025 saw fewer smartwatch launches than anticipated, primarily due to regulatory pressures promoting local manufacturing and muted consumer demand. As a result, IDC projects the smartwatch category to decline in strong double digits for the full year 2025.

“Looking ahead to the festive second half, brands are expected to pivot towards mid-premium offerings, focusing on advanced health sensors, NFC support, AI-driven features for predictive health insights, and seamless integration with devices and ecosystems,” said Anand Priya Singh, market analyst, Smart Wearable Devices, IDC India. “Additionally, white-label smartwatches (low-cost knockoffs) are expected to regain momentum, particularly in the offline retail channel, driven by aggressive bundle offers.”

Emerging wearable categories are beginning to resonate with consumers, supported by innovative use cases and new product launches.

Smart Rings shipments rebounded after its first-ever decline in 1Q25, recording a modest YoY growth of 2.8% with 75,000 units shipped in 2Q25. Ultrahuman, Gabit and Aabo continue to dominate with collective share of 65%.

Smart Glasses shipments surged to 50,000 units in 2Q25 from 4000 a year ago, fuelled by new launches from Meta and Lenskart. The average selling price (ASP) stood at $134.0, reflecting the segment's premium positioning.

Smart Wristbands: Shipments jumped by 118.5% YoY to 83,000 units in 2Q25, driven primarily by the strong uptake of Samsung’s Galaxy Fit3. Samsung accounted for 80.6% share in the wristbands category in 2Q25.

These trends indicate growing consumer curiosity and adoption of next-gen wearable form factors, as brands expand beyond traditional categories.

Earwear Market Outlook – Innovation-Led Differentiation

To gain a competitive edge, brands are increasingly partnering with audio technology innovators to improve sound quality and boost average selling prices (ASPs). In the upcoming quarters, the earwear segment is expected to feature AI-driven enhancements, including personalized voice assistance, environment-aware sound tuning, next-generation noise cancellation.

Commenting on the earwear category, Vikas Sharma, senior market analyst, Smart Wearable Devices, IDC India, says, “Future devices will also prioritize seamless cross-device connectivity, enabling users to switch smoothly between phones, laptops, and smartwatches. Additionally, real-time translation across multiple Indian languages is emerging as a key differentiator. Despite ongoing innovation, IDC projects only low single-digit growth for the earwear category in 2025, as the market continues to mature with intensifying competition”.