Strategy Analytics released its latest analysis on the global smart speaker market. Its Q4 results found that Amazon is still the top brand by market share, followed by Google, although both are being challenged by companies in China.
Amazon took a market share of 26.2% in Q4 2019, down from 33.7% in the year-ago period. Google’s share also dipped from 25.9% to 20.3%. Baidu, Alibaba, and Xiaomi all saw growth between Q4 2018 and Q4 2019. Baidu had 10.6%, Alibaba posted 9.8%, and Xiaomi took 8.4%, making this a solid year of growth for the Chinese brands.
Total smart speaker shipments during the year reached a new high of 146.9 million units. That figure marked a 70% spike over 2018 shipments. Fourth-quarter sales were also a record high of 55.7 million units.
“In 2019 Amazon and Google retained their strong leadership positions in North America and Europe, where they accounted for more than three quarters of all smart speaker sales,” Strategy Analytics Vice President David Mercer said. “However, their shares fell slightly in both regions, confirming our user research findings that buyers are prepared to invest in other brands. Competing vendors must focus resources on specific smart speaker customer segments and use cases in order to maximize revenues and profitability.”