In the second quarter, many other speakers were sold worldwide by brands such as Amazon and Google, but also by Alibaba, Xiaomi, and Apple.
Intelligent speakers are among the devices that attract buyers’ attention. This is supported by the sales figures for the second quarter.
Strategy Analytics estimates that 11.7 million speakers of this type were shipped worldwide between April and June, compared to less than 4 million in the same period in 2017, an improvement of 203%.
Canalys also points to triple-digit growth, albeit by 187% from 5.8 million to 16.8 million units.
Amazon vs. Google
Despite the different figures, both consultants agree that there is widespread growth, but also a loss of power due to Amazon.
The company led by Jeff Bezos would have placed almost 2 million more devices than a year ago, but Google would have improved by more than 2.5 million by now, which together with the strength of other brands has brought the market share of the first of these North American companies below 50% of the stake.
A year ago Amazon was the absolute leader and now he’s not. Strategy Analytics still ranks first, but Canalys is available directly to Google with 5.4 million Google Home devices compared to 4.1 million Echo devices.
“Amazon and Google accounted for 69% of global shipments of smart speakers in the second quarter of 2018,” said David Watkins, director of strategy analytics, “and fell from over 90% in the second quarter of 2017.
For the expert, the downturn reflects not only increased competition in the smart speaker market, but also the inability of Amazon and Google to enter the fast-growing Chinese market, dominated by local brands such as Alibaba, JD.com, and Baidu.
United States vs. China
In addition to Amazon and Google, Apple and Chinese companies, including Xiaomi, will also be showing their references. The role of Chinese companies in their own country even gives them points.
Canalys states that Alibaba controls the largest part of the intelligent speaker market in China, where it would have managed to place approximately 3 million Tmall Genie speakers in the second quarter. Xiaomi, which launched the Xiaoai Mini AI, has reached 2 million and together with Alibaba represents 90% of the market.
“Although actual user demand for loudspeaker products has not yet been proven, China is well on its way to overtaking the US in the short term,” says Hattie He, research analyst at Canalys.
And this could lead to a turnaround in the ranking, considering that Amazon currently sends more than two-thirds of its worldwide shipments to the USA and Google, almost three fifths.
In the second quarter of 2018, which has already been analyzed, the United States contributed 16% to global growth in the volume of smart speakers, and what was China’s contribution? 52 percent.