India’s TWS hearables market grows 656% in Q2, Realme leads

New Delhi:  India’s True Wireless Stereo (TWS) market posted 656 per cent (year-on-year) growth in the second quarter of this year, becoming one of the few segments which actually grew during the pandemic, a Counterpoint Research report said on Friday.

Realme, which entered the India TWS market in December last year, emerged as the leading brand in Q2 driven by the newly-launched Realme Buds Air Neo and Buds Q, said the report.

Xiaomi, which entered the India TWS market in Q2 2020 with the launch of two devices — Redmi Earbuds S and Mi True Wireless 2 — managed to capture the second spot.

JBL remained at the third position while increasing its share to 15 per cent in Q2 2020. Launch of three more devices and strong demand for its model C100TWS drove the growth.

“Entry of players like Xiaomi and OPPO, and launch of more affordable devices pushed the average selling price (ASP) to the lower side, making it possible to reach a larger section of population,” Research Analyst Shilpi Jain said on the growth of TWS market.

“Though the competition has intensified, this segment holds immense growth potential as it still represents just 10 per cent of the hearables segment in India.”

Apart from the top three, boAt and pTron are the two other major players in the India TWS market.

boAt, a home-grown start-up, held the fourth position in the India TWS Market in Q2 2020.

pTron, another local brand which was launched in 2015 in consumer electronics and mobile accessories including TWS, held the fifth position in the India TWS market in Q2 2020.

“After realme, OPPO and Xiaomi, vivo, OnePlus and Sony have entered this segment and, going forward, we might see more OEMs joining and increasing the competition in this category,” said Senior Research Analyst Liz Lee.