boAt leads as India's 'true wearables' market grows 68%

Indian company boAt maintained its lead for the fourth successive quarter as India's true wearable (TWS) market registered 68 per cent (YoY) growth during the second quarter (Q2), a new report showed on Friday.

OnePlus and realme captured the second and third spots, respectively. Noise moved one step up to take the fourth spot with 117 per cent YoY growth, according to latest research from Counterpoint's IoT Service.

"We have seen a phenomenal change in India's TWS market with the entry of new players and frequent new launches. More than 40 brands have entered this market since 2020," said senior research analyst Anshika Jain.

"In the next quarter, we will see the entry of more brands (like Nothing Ear, Dizo and Micromax) across price tiers to grab a larger share of this untapped market," Jain added.

Some of the new entrants in Q2 were Lava, Aiwa and TCL. Low-cost offerings have provided the necessary boost to this segment.

The share of the Rs 1,000-Rs 2,000 price band grew to 60 per cent of the overall shipments in Q2 2021, compared to 25 per cent in the same quarter last year.

boAt topped the charts for the fourth quarter in a row with a 37 per cent share of the total TWS shipments. Aggressive marketing, celebrity endorsements and ‘value for money' offerings like the Airdopes 701, Airdopes 281 Pro and Airdopes 481V2 helped the brand to maintain a dominating position in the Indian market.

"Players are looking to make these devices locally to reap the benefits of the government's PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) scheme. boAt has also decided to shift most of its manufacturing base to India to provide more affordable devices," said research associate Anam Padha.

The latest entrant Aiwa, is also exploring a similar possibility, which indicates that more brands are likely to follow this path to offer new features at low price points, Padha added.

realme maintained its position in the Top 5 brands because of its affordable launches. The brand focused on offering prominent features like ANC at an affordable price point in its recently launched devices like the Buds Q2 and Buds Air 2.
 

*Edited from an IANS report