India dominates smartwatch market, accounts for over a quarter of global sales in Q1 2023

• The Indian smartwatch market has reported a 121% year-on-year growth in Q1 2023.
• Fire Boltt has taken the second spot in global shipments, ahead of Samsung.
• India has emerged as the biggest market for smartwatches with a 27% market share.

The Indian smartwatch segment continues to grow, even as tighter macroeconomic situations worldwide depressed global sales in the first three months of this year. The decline in global shipments was restricted to 1.5% in Q1 2023 largely aided by a more-than-doubling of growth in India.

Smartwatch shipments in India rose 121% year-on-year (YoY) growth in Q1 2023, according to a report by Counterpoint Research. This comes at a time when global shipments declined for the second consecutive quarter.

“The global smartwatch market, which had been experiencing steep growth for several years, has entered a period of stagnation since the end of last year when it declined 8% YoY in Q4 2022,” said Woojin Son, research analyst, Counterpoint Research.

The decline has been attributed to a seasonal decline in demand for products from major players like Apple and Samsung and dampened consumer sentiment due to global financial pressures.

Wider options, affordability drive India growth

The Indian smartwatch industry has been steadily growing and Q1 2023 was no different. After domestic shipments more than doubled year-on-year in the last quarter of 2022, India repeated the feat with 121% on-year growth in shipments in Q1 2023. The availability of affordable smartwatches, rising consumer demand and variety of options are among the reasons for growth of smartwatches in the country.

“India’s smartwatch market grew 121% YoY in Q1 2023 driven by affordability, rising customer demand and availability of a wide variety of options in the budget segment,” said Anshika Jain, analyst, Counterpoint Research.

The Indian smartwatch market is mainly made up of budget smartwatches, with around 40% of smartwatches sold in India in Q1 2023 priced under ₹2,000. This is the first time that the share of smartwatches under ₹2,000 has reached this mark.

Local smartwatch makers rule India market

Indian smartwatch makers have taken the lion’s share of the Indian market. In Q1 2023, over 90% of smartwatches sold in the country were from Indian companies like Fire Boltt, Noise, boAt and others.

“The share of India-based players crossed 90% for the first time as they were quick in terms of upgrading their portfolios and adapting their products to customer needs at a reasonable price point,” added Jain.

Indian smartwatch maker Fire Boltt beat Samsung to grab the second position in the global smartwatch shipments in Q1 2023. The company’s affordable smartwatches allowed it to increase its shipments by three times year-on-year. Apple continued to dominate the market, with a 26% share in global shipments.

India also became the biggest market for smartwatches in Q1 2023. It accounted for 27% of smartwatches sold in Q1 2023, meaning over a quarter of smartwatches sold globally were sold in India. North America was a close second with a 26% market share and China was third with a 18% market share.

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