Amazon and Google draw almost even in Canalys’ Q3 smart speaker report

Canalys has released its third-quarter market research on the global smart speaker industry. Worldwide shipments increased 137% on-year for a total of 19.7 million units. After a strong Q2 for Google, Amazon has regained its lead in the latest period, likely thanks to its big sales push on Prime Day. Amazon posted 1.3% growth to reach a global market share of 31.9%. Google still reported massive 187% growth and now has a 29.8% market share.

The United States remains the largest market for smart speakers, but China has posted huge gains in the past year. The two nations combined are responsible for 70% of the worldwide market, with 8.3 million units in the U.S. and 5.8 million in China.

The results are positioning all the top brands for a successful fourth quarter, when holiday shopping season may give them even larger gains in sales.

Anna Washenko