Shipments of wearables to India are expected to reach 117 million units next year.

Growth is expected to be led by smart watches and on the back of brands trying to crack the offline segment, bringing in new features and form factors. Smart watches and earwear are nowhere close to their final form and there are a multitude of advances that the market can expect in the next year in terms of features and form factors.

There may be a significant shift in focus from just consumer acquisition to retention, and hence innovation both in terms of hardware and insights. There will probably be a spike in demand for the calling functionality in smart watches, along with increased demand among children and the elderly.

India’s wearables market has 61 million users. Some are a combination of a watch and a fitness device; some are smart watches or smart bands separately. Pricing of these products has remained a critical filter for their mass adoption. Since most customers in India are price sensitive, pricing of the wearables would be critical. Also, the rate of growth is expected to fall sharply to 17 per cent on year from a steep 51 per cent in 2022, amid worries of an economic downturn as well as an expected saturation of the high selling audio accessories segment.