The wearables segment has seen immense growth over the years, and this momentum is set to further increase as India’s major smartwatch and headphones makers have started to manufacture printed circuit boards (PCBs) for their customers. According to a report by IDC India, shipments of wearables clocked 46.9% year-on-year growth in 2022, reaching a total of 100 million units. Dixon Technologies and Optiemus Electronics have taken the lead and are producing circuit boards for their customers.
Dixon Technologies is currently engaged with Imagine Marketing (Boat), the largest wearables brand in India, and plans on introducing SMT (surface-mount technology) to circuit boards for hearables in April. The company has estimated capacity to produce 1.2 million pieces a month, and ultimately 15 million pieces a year. The implementation of this technology would also result in increased local value addition that is estimated to reach 25% from 15% at present. The electronics manufacturer currently employs 2,000 people for hearables production and will double this workforce to 4,000 with a new factory coming up in Noida.
Optiemus Electronics has also built up capacity to make 3-4 million circuit boards a month for hearables and wearables, which it plans to supply to customers who do not produce their own assemblies. About 70-80% of the company’s business till 2022 was with Noise, the second largest wearable brand in India, and this has come down to 50% owing to increased customer base. The firm is now in talks to produce wearables for a Chinese smartphone brand, along with other software startups who are venturing into the wearables segment.
These two companies are playing a crucial role in the wearables segment in India, and their corresponding professionals are equally important as well. Sunil Vachani is the chairman of Dixon Technologies and has been a reliable source of information related to the wearables and heardables segment in India. Nitesh Gupta, who is the director at Optiemus Electronics, has discussed plans to build PCBs that can supply components locally and become vital to the industry’s ecosystem.
These advancements in the wearables, and even the hearables, industry have made substantial contributions by increasing supplies and local value addition and becoming integral to the industry’s success. With the range of wearables and hearables now increasing and the need for high-quality, low-cost products also increasing, the production of printed circuit boards (PCBs) by India’s leading smartwatch and headphone brands is a welcome move.
 enable increased supply & local value addition. Industry professionals, such as Sunil Vachani & Nitesh Gupta, are the key drivers of this growth. We explore the increased need for high-quality & low-cost products & their integral role in the wearables industry.){kind=link}