- Pressure on consumer wallets will continue to harm demand for smartwatches in 2023
- Growth in the next 12 months will come from the Indian market, which bucks the trend with a boom in demand for affordable basic smartwatches
- The outlook for all smartwatch segments will improve from 2024, and basic smartwatches will create a further opportunity for low-cost device manufacturers
London, 8 March 2023: Smartwatches with advanced capabilities experienced a difficult market in 2022, and sales will grow very slowly in 2023. However, in India basic smartwatches have taken off. These are the main findings from the latest wearables market forecast, covering 2023 to 2027, published by technology analyst firm CCS Insight.
In 2023 184 million smartwatches are expected to be sold, up 16% from 2022. But almost all of this increase will come from India, where demand is expected to grow by 75%. This regional growth is being fuelled by the increased availability and popularity of basic devices, generally priced between $30 and $70.
Three Indian companies — boAt, Fire-Boltt and Noise — have made a success of Indian consumers’ love for smartwatch technology, creating an explosion of demand in their domestic market. In contrast, smartwatch sales in the country three years ago were negligible.
“The recipe for success among Indian smartwatch makers appears quite obvious: combining good-enough features with an affordable price. But the impact of the “Make in India” initiative shouldn’t be underestimated,” explains Kane McKenna, Analyst for Wearables at CCS Insight. “The next step for these companies will be international expansion over the next few years, to try and replicate some of this success in other markets where cost-conscious consumers could be tempted by affordable smartwatches”.
We forecast global sales of basic smartwatches to reach 118 million units in 2027, accounting for one-third of the 353 million total smartwatches expected to be shipped that year.
Advanced smartwatches from companies like Apple, Google, Garmin and Samsung continue to dominate the market, despite their sales in units declining by 7% in 2022. Sales are expected to remain almost flat in 2023 at 107 million units.
“In Western markets, increased prices of everyday essentials will maintain pressure on consumers in 2023, leading to many of them delaying purchases of treats like smartwatches with a price tag of a few hundred dollars, euros or pounds,” notes Marina Koytcheva, Vice President of Forecasting at CCS Insight. But in those markets smartwatches have already established themselves as an important consumer electronics category; as pressure on household income eases, adoption from first-time users and demand for new models as replacements will return to growth.
Advanced smartwatches are forecast to reach over 200 million units shipped in 2027, almost double that of 2022. Although they will account for just under 60% of global smartwatch unit sales in 2027, their dollar value contribution will account for 88% of the $44 billion the market will be worth then.
Smartwatches dedicated to children and senior citizens are projected to remain a firm, albeit small, part of the global market, mostly concentrated in China.
A summary of CCS Insight’s global market forecast for smartwatches is shown below:
Notes to Editors
CCS Insight is a leading provider of wearables research. This forecast is part of a broader suite of research into wearables, including a user survey, an extensive database of devices and regular reports and updates on the latest announcements, events and news.
More details of CCS Insight’s extensive wearables research service can be found at: www.ccsinsight.com/research-areas/wearables/
About CCS Insight
CCS Insight is a global analyst company focussing on current and future trends in technology. It provides comprehensive services that are tailored to meet the needs of individual clients, helping them make sense of the connected world. Follow @CCSInsight on Twitter or learn more at www.ccsinsight.com.
For further information contact:
Aylin Karanis
Harvard PR
Tel: + 44 (0) 7385023639
E-mail: ccsinsight@harvard.co.uk