New Delhi: BJP’s Sambit Patra and Shahnawaz Hussain wear them. AAP’s Raghav Chadha dons them too. And so does Congress’s Pawan Khera.
India’s newest tech accessory obsession — wireless earphones — is now making a splash on news channels with several political leaders making their appearances with them amid the ubiquity of video interactions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here’s a look at five Indian politicians who made such appearances.
From new to old school tech
In a 12 August clip, Karnataka BJP spokesperson S. Prakash was seen with wireless earphones on Republic TV as host Arnab Goswami debated whether the government should ban Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI) for an alleged role in the Bengaluru riots.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain also sported wireless earphones on Aaj Tak’s debate on 25 July as host Rohit Sardana discussed the Rajasthan political crisis.
Then there was yet another BJP spokesperson, Sudhanshu Trivedi, who could be seen wearing wireless earphones on 23 July — ready to respond to India Today’s Rahul Kanwal why Prime Minister Narendra Modi couldn’t perform the Ram Temple bhoomi pujan remotely.
And here’s a 24 June clip of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, with wireless earphones plugged in as India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai debated if the BJP-Congress fight is compromising India’s national security amid the Ladakh crisis.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera was also part of the debate, and wore earphones — albeit quasi wireless ones.
His party’s spokespersons, however, don’t seem to have embraced the wireless tech, as seen here with leader Ragini Nayak who appeared on Aaj Tak with the traditional wired earphones — old school, really.
Here’s former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha during a 25 July clip of News18 India’s Hindi debate, joining in through his phone. Even more old school!
But AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha went truly wireless in his 20 June appearance on CNN-News18.
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The wireless earphone market in India
Truly wireless hearables are growing fast in India. The market grew 700 per cent in 2019 in the country, according to tech market research firm Counterpoint.
The firm lists Apple’s AirPod as the top-selling truly wireless hearables model. It is followed by Chinese smartphone maker realme’s Buds Air, Hyderabad-based mobile accessory maker pTron’s Bassbuds, Gurugram-based Noise’ Shots X1 Air, and Shots X5.
US tech giant Apple, which has a 27 per cent market share in India, made wireless earphones popular in 2016. However, Samsung has claimed it created wireless hearables before Apple.
Apple’s AirPods are among the most expensive starting at Rs 14,900. Counterpoint expects Apple to command the “lion share” of revenue in India ahead. However, the market in India has grown due to “availability of many affordable devices by players like realme, Xiaomi and Noise”, it says.
realme Buds Air and Xiaomi’s Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 are available in retail for Rs 3,999 while Noise has truly wireless earphones for Rs 2,499.
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