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

The Indian wearable devices market faced a significant downturn in the second quarter of 2025 (2Q25). According to the IDC India Monthly Wearable Device Tracker, the market fell by 9.4% year-over-year (YoY), shipping 26.7 million units. This marks the fifth consecutive quarterly decline, raising concerns about consumer demand, product saturation, and long-term growth potential.

Overall Market Performance in 1H25

During the first half of 2025 (1H25), the wearable devices market contracted by 6.3% YoY, with shipments totaling 51.6 million units. The average selling price (ASP) remained steady at $18.7, while in 2Q25 it grew modestly to $19.2, reflecting slightly stronger demand for mid-tier products.

The decline signals a critical shift: after years of rapid adoption in 2022 and 2023, consumers are now reassessing the value of wearables, particularly in an environment where smartphone dependency has made many features redundant.

Smartwatch Segment: Sharp Decline Amid Saturation

• Shipments fell 28.4% YoY to 6.6 million units in 2Q25.
• Smartwatch market share within wearables dropped from 31.5% to 24.9%.
• Advanced smartwatches, including Apple and Wear OS devices, suffered an even steeper fall of 39.5% YoY, reducing their share from 2.5% to 2.1%.
• ASPs increased by 5.1% YoY, moving from $20.6 to $21.7, showing that consumers who are still buying are shifting towards more feature-rich models.

The slowdown is largely attributed to demand fatigue, limited differentiation in entry-level devices, and a growing perception that smartphones already deliver most key functions, reducing the necessity of owning a smartwatch. Furthermore, the hassle of charging smartwatches daily discourages long-term adoption.

Earwear: Resilient But Slowing

The earwear category, India’s largest wearable segment, declined 1.2% YoY to 19.9 million units in 2Q25. While the slowdown contrasts with the double-digit growth of earlier quarters, the category remains dominant.

Segment-wise Breakdown

• TWS (Truly Wireless Stereo): Held 71.2% share, but shipments declined by 1.2% YoY.
• Neckbands: Dropped 16.1% YoY, reflecting consumer preference shifts towards TWS.
• Over-the-ear headphones: Surged 97.4% YoY, reaching 1.5 million units, showing strong demand for premium, immersive audio.
• ASP for earwear grew 1.1% YoY, reaching $17.4.

The earwear market is increasingly moving towards AI-driven sound personalization, noise cancellation, and cross-device connectivity, signaling opportunities for premium differentiation.

Vendor Performance: Market Leaders and Shifts

boAt (Imagine Marketing)

• Continued as market leader with 28.0% share, up from 26.7% YoY.
• In TWS, it led with 31.9% share.
• In over-the-ear headphones, boAt achieved 198.4% growth, commanding 44.4% share.
• In smartwatches, boAt climbed to second place with 13.7% share.

Noise (Nexxbase)

• Retained leadership in smartwatches with a 30.9% share, but also faced the segment-wide decline.

Xiaomi

• Among the top 10 smartwatch vendors, Xiaomi registered the highest YoY growth, with a 145.5% increase, proving that aggressive pricing and offline expansion can still drive growth.

Channel Performance: Online vs. Offlin

• Online channel shipments dropped 13.8% YoY, reducing share from 63.4% to 60.3%.
• Offline channel declined only 1.8% YoY, showing resilience.
• Smartwatches online: Shipments plunged 37.2% YoY, demonstrating oversupply and weaker promotions.
• Earwear offline: Shipments grew 4.4% YoY, proving stronger retail demand.

The offline channel is becoming crucial, particularly for white-label smartwatches and bundled deals.

Smartwatch Market Outlook: Pivot to Mid-Premium

Looking ahead, IDC projects the smartwatch market to decline in double digits for full-year 2025. However, the festive season may bring relief as brands shift to:

• Mid-premium offerings with NFC payments, AI health tracking, and device ecosystem integration.
• Growth in white-label (knockoff) smartwatches, especially offline, driven by bundle offers and low entry prices.

IDC analyst Anand Priya Singh highlighted that regulatory pressures for local manufacturing and muted consumer demand have limited new launches in 1H25, pushing brands to differentiate with smarter features in the second half.

Emerging Wearable Categories: Growth Beyond Watches

While traditional categories slow, next-gen wearables are beginning to capture consumer interest.

• Smart Rings: Shipments rose 2.8% YoY to 75,000 units. Dominated by Ultrahuman, Gabit, and Aabo with 65% combined share.
• Smart Glasses: Exploded from 4,000 units in 2Q24 to 50,000 in 2Q25, driven by Meta and Lenskart launches. ASP stood at $134.0, positioning the category as premium.
• Smart Wristbands: Surged 118.5% YoY to 83,000 units, mainly due to Samsung Galaxy Fit3, which captured 80.6% share.

These segments indicate that consumer curiosity is shifting towards innovative form factors, potentially reducing reliance on saturated smartwatch markets.

Earwear Outlook: Differentiation Through Innovation

IDC expects the earwear market to witness low single-digit growth in 2025. However, innovation will play a decisive role.

Future earwear is expected to focus on:

• AI-powered sound tuning based on user environment.
• Real-time language translation, particularly in multiple Indian languages.
• Seamless cross-device switching between phones, laptops, and watches.
• Next-generation noise cancellation for premium models.

IDC’s Vikas Sharma emphasizes that brands must go beyond affordability and add clear value propositions to maintain consumer interest.

Consumer Behavior: Why Demand is Softening

The decline in wearables is also explained by changing consumer habits:

• Smartphones already handle notifications, health tracking, and payments, reducing smartwatch necessity.
• Charging fatigue is real users find it inconvenient to charge watches daily.
• Value-for-money expectations are rising, with consumers unwilling to upgrade without major innovations.

This shift highlights that the Indian market is entering a maturity phase, where only truly innovative products can drive growth.

• Indian Smartphone Sector Sees 7% Growth in Q2 2025: vivo, OPPO Surge While Xiaomi, realme Slide
• Price and Specification of LG Optimus 2X in India
• 13 Mind-Blowing Gmail Shortcuts You Didn’t Know Existed
• Kia India Accelerates Growth with 14.43% Year-on-Year Surge in Vehicle Dispatches, Carens Clavis Sets New Benchmark
• POCO’s Remarkable Rise: Brand Records Impressive 68% YoY Growth Fueled by Multiple Launches

Wearables Enter a New Chapter

The second quarter of 2025 marked a pivotal moment for India’s wearable market. With smartwatches declining sharply, earwear stabilizing, and new categories like smart rings and glasses rising, the industry is experiencing a structural transition.

The next phase will not be about volume growth at any cost, but rather about innovation-led differentiation, ecosystem integration, and sustainable consumer value. Brands that can successfully pivot will thrive, while others may fade in a crowded marketplace.