BoAt, Noise drove the expansion of hearables in 2022

Local true wireless stereo (TWS) buds or hearables manufacturers such as boAt, Noise, Boult Audio, Mivi and PTron led the 85% y-o-y growth in India’s hearables shipments in 2022. Factors such as timely sales events, affordable product offerings and increase in local manufacturing led the growth in the shipments, according to a data by Counterpoint Research.

While boAt continues to lead the market with an 89% y-o-y growth for the third straight year, the top five spots in the India hearables market were captured by the local brands for the first time. “Four-fifths of the total market was captured by Indian brands, their highest-ever share. Evidently, Chinese and global brands lost some of their share to the Indian players,” said Anshika Jain, senior research analyst at Counterpoint. According to Jain, the market share of chinese brands was at 13% in 2022 driven by the good performance of OnePlus’ feature-rich devices Nord Buds and Nord Buds CE.“realme and OPPO also supported the growth of Chinese brands. Global brands took an 8% share led by Apple, Samsung and JBL,” Jain added.

Since the companies preferred local manufacturing of products, the average selling price dropped by 20% y-o-y in 2022. More new launches in the low-price band of Rs 1,000-2,000 also contributed to the drop in pricing, according to analysts. In 2021, domestic manufacturing used to contribute only 2% of the total shipments and its contribution grew to 30% last year.

“Key homegrown brands boAt, Mivi and pTron ramped up their local manufacturing capabilities to account for 73% of the domestic shipment volume in 2022. Other key players like Noise, Truke, Boult Audio, Wings, Gizmore and Play also manufactured made-in-India devices for the first time this year,” said Liz Lee, associate director at Counterpoint.

With regard to brand specific performance, boAt continues to be the market leader with its Airdopes 131 being the top-selling model for the second consecutive year. Noise grew two times compared to last year on the back of ts VS series which caters to the less-than-Rs 2,000 market. Boult Audio grabbed the third spot with a 7% share and 167% y-o-y growth driven by aggressive marketing strategies and multiple new feature-rich offerings below Rs 2,000.

Brands like Mivi and Ptron were at the fourth and fifth position, respectively. According to Counterpoint, Mivi grew 544% y-o-y and grabbed a position in the top five for the first time. In the October-December quarter, the hearables market grew 44% y-o-y, driven by festive season sales and promotions and growing local production.