Speakers are the second-biggest smart home segment in Europe as Google and Amazon jockey

IDC has released a new report about smart home technology in Europe. According to the analysis, the European smart home market grew by 23.9%, with 21.3 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2019.

Smart speakers were the second-largest segment, growing 58.1% to 3.35 million units shipped. The speakers had a 15.8% share of the smart home tech field. The region also saw Google pulling into the lead. Products from the Google Home line represented 45.1% of the total shipments, edging out the 41.8% share from Amazon Echo products.

Despite the lead for Google hardware, IDC projected that Alexa would remain the top voice assistant for Europe in 2019. It anticipated Google’s AI overtaking the top spot in 2022. Both voice AI services are available on third-party products, which could explain why Google has the lead in hardware but Amazon leads in software.

“Google had a stellar quarter and was the clear winner in the first quarter, reaching an important milestone in Europe,” said Antonio Arantes, IDC senior research analyst for smart home devices in Western Europe. “Google continues to expand to new countries and support new native languages at a faster pace than Amazon. This is also contributing to strengthening its position in voice assistant platforms. Google Assistant was present in 49.2% of all smart speakers sold in Europe in the first quarter of 2019. Meanwhile, Amazon faced supply issues, with the Amazon Echo Dot being out of stock in some countries for several weeks, leaving space for Google Home products to grow.”

Anna Washenko