Domestic brands lead India's growing smartwatch market with Noise in lead

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
May 9, 2022

India's smartwatch market saw 173% year-on-year growth in the first quarter of the 2022 calendar year with domestic brands proving most popular and Noise leading the market with a 23% share.  

In the January to March quarter, India’s top three smartwatch brands, all Indian businesses, captured 60% of the market share, the Economic Times reported. Following Noise’s 23% market share, Fire-Boltt captured 21% of the market and Boat captured 18% showing a high demand for Indian-made smartwatches, according to research firm Counterpoint Research. These three brands heavily promote the fact that they are Indian brands as part of their marketing strategy. 
 
“The contribution of the Rs 5,000 ($67) retail price band increased to 87% from 78% in Q1 2021,” said senior research analyst Anshika Jain, Indo-Asian News Service reported. “The Rs 1,000to Rs 2,000 ($13 to $27) retail price band reached its highest ever share of 14% from just 2% a year ago. Consumer awareness has also increased in this segment due to brands' continuous efforts on marketing and promotions through online and offline channels.”

Another consumer trend is a move towards larger smartwatch displays. The larger displays being launched by numerous brands are designed to attract smart band users as these products have smaller displays which can cause limited functionality. 
 
“The contribution of the 1.5-inch smartwatches increased to more than half of the total smartwatch market from just 11% last year,” said research analyst Harshit Rastogi, IANS reported.

“In addition, some of the most demanded features like SpO2 are now present at all price levels. We could see a major jump in the contribution of domestically manufactured devices in the second half of 2022, especially from brands like Noise, Boat and Realme.”