Amazon currently leads the industry for smart speakers, but more international competition has started to chip away at its dominant market share. Market research company Strategy Analytics released its first-quarter report on the product category. The analysis found that 9.2 million units were shipped globally in the period. Amazon posted 4 million units shipped in the quarter for a 43.6% market share, compared with 2 million units that secured an 81.8% share in the year-ago period.
Google was the second-largest, with 2.4 million units and a 26.5% global market share in Q1 2018. Its share was just 12.4% in the same quarter last year. Apple, which did not have a smart speaker available until this year, sold enough HomePods to reach a 6% market share.
The figures also noted the unique brand landscape in China, where speakers from Alibaba and Xiaomi lead and neither Amazon nor Google are available. Both Alibaba and Xiaomi have had a strong enough domestic performance to be ranked in the top five brands globally. Alibaba had a 7.6% share and Xiaomi had a 2.4% share.