India’s wearables market grew by 165.1 per cent year-on-year and posted record shipments of 11.8 million units in 3Q20, marking the highest-quarter shipments to date, as per market tracker firm IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker report.

The growth in shipments was fueled by strong demand for earwear devices and watches as both categories logged their biggest quarter to date shipments-wise, said the report.

Increased demand for wireless devices supported the earwear category to hit its all-time high shipments in the country, witnessing a 260.5 per cent year-on-year growth in 3Q20.

India’s telecom sector, in the efforts of enabling policies including more quantum of the spectrum, is set to establish new benchmarks in the next-generation network deployments and service delivery.

The wireless devices segment was led by homegrown brand BoAt with a 32.4 per cent market share, followed by Samsung (including devices from Infinity, Harman Kardon, and JBL) with a 15 per cent share.

BoAt also led the overall TWS category with a 26.1 per cent share, followed by Realme which expanded the truly wireless portfolio and secured the second position with a 15.5 per cent market share in the TWS category.

In contrast, as per Counterpoint Research. India’s True Wireless Stereo (TWS) market grew 723 per cent on-year in Q3 led by home-bred BoAt, China’s Xiaomi, and Realme. BoAt’s success was driven by an expansive TWS products portfolio during Q3 which helped it grab the top spot from Realme.

Smartwatches segment grew by 119.9 per cent year-on-year in 3Q20 with shipments of 778,000 units, marking its biggest quarter ever shipments wise. Homegrown brand Noise led the charts with a 28.5 per cent share, followed by Realme that replaced Huami for the second position with a 24.2 per cent share of the segment.

The wristbands segment declined by 20.3 per cent year-on-year in 3Q20 as users started upgrading to watches. Xiaomi maintained its lead, accounting for more than half of the category shipments with a 52.4 per cent share in the quarter. Realme stood second with a 14.6 per cent share in the category.