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According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, the wearable market in India was largely reliant on fitness bands, with 87.7% of market share in the first quarter of 2016 while smart wearables, devices that run on third-party applications, had market share of about 12.3%. IDC also reported that overall wearable sales during the quarter totalled a little over 400,000 units.

Xiaomi was the leading vendor in the quarter with 27.1% market share and Mi, its affordable fitness tracker, cited as an important reason for its success. GOQii, an Indian vendor, had second place in the market with 18.1%, with Fitbit (6.2%), Samsung (2.5%) and Motorola (1.4%) trailing.

Raj Nimesh, senior market analyst for client devices at IDC, explained how Fitbit actually had the maximum market value share despite being outgunned in sales by Xiaomi and GOQii. “The smart wearables have not yet gained enough ground because of the higher price attached to them. The popularity of wearable devices is restricted to urban sectors with relatively higher disposable income,” Nimesh said. “Since online platforms are immensely popular in this segment, nearly three-quarter of the sales happened through leading online retailers. However, to expand the reach, an increasing number of brands are taking up the offline channel, especially though major large format retail (LFR) outlets.”

Swapnil Bhatnagar, research director for IDC India, said: “The wearable devices have become immensely popular in the past one year, and more players are expected to make an entry into the market in both the basic and smart wearable categories. The expected launch of affordable smartwatches in the second half of 2016 could see a rapid growth in the share of smart devices.”

 

 

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