India’s truly wireless stereo (TWS) market witnessed a record year, shipping 20.3 million units with a healthy 74.7% YoY (year-over-year) growth in 2021, according to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) India Monthly Wearable Device Tracker. In 2021, the India-based vendors captured over 65% shipments in the TWS category, compared to about half of the market last year. BoAt emerged as the leader with two-fifth of the shipments during the year, which is more than the combined share of the next seven vendors.
BoAt maintained its position as the market leader capturing 39.3% market share with 187.9% YoY growth in 2021. It was followed by Realme with a 7.7% share, Noise came third (7.5%), pTron was on fourth spot (6%) and Samsung stood fifth with 4.7% market share.
Aggressive entry and expansion through the online channel allowed these new-age brands to collectively bring down TWS ASP to $32.8 in 2021, from $43.6 in 2020, resulting in nearly 90% of the TWS category to be below the $50 price band. However, the encouraging reception of new brands viz Nothing, Google, and LG electronics shows consumer enthusiasm in the mid-end segment.
In Q421(Oct-Dec) India-based brands cemented their position, with four out of the top five spots. BoAt on its own gave about half of the market volumes, up from 30.1% in the same period a year ago. Noise secured the second position as the fastest growing brand during the quarter with quadrupled shipments YoY.
“Affordability, availability, and appealing aesthetics are the key drivers for the TWS market as a must have complementary device for a smartphone,” says Ekta Mittal, Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India. “With increased awareness, consumers will continue to migrate from wired to wireless devices and upgrade to devices with better sound experience, longer battery and comfort,” adds Mittal.
