Research firm Strategy Analytics published the report related to smart speaker shipments during Q4 2019or during the Christmas holidays. As one might have expected, Amazon and Google are leading the rankings. Quite unexpected is the triple-digit growth of Baidu and Xiaomi.
The overall smart speaker market grew 44.7%, with a total shipment of 55.7 million units, up from 38.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2018. Strategy Analytics said that although the supply chain was temporarily suspended due to coronavirus, 2020 is expected to be a record year for sales of this kind of devices.
Analyzing in detail the individual sales, we find that Amazon leads the ranking with 15.8 million units shipped and a market share of 28.3%; behind it is Google with 13.9 million units shipped and a market share of 24.9%.
On the third step of the podium, we find Baidu, with shipments of 5.9 million units, market share of 10.6%, growth of 171%; the “wooden spoon” should be given to Alibaba with 5.5 million units shipped and a market share of 9.8%.
Xiaomi we find it in the fifth position, with 4.7 million smart speakers sold in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a market share of 8.4%.
However, the figure that makes the most impressive is that of growth compared to the same period of last year, which stands on the 167% (this growth has been brought back since Q2 2019).
Clearly the great advantage that Amazon and Google have over Chinese manufacturers is the presence of their products: while Alibaba, Baidu, and Xiaomi only sell smart speakers in China (also because they have not yet developed a multi-language digital assistant), Amazon and Google embrace a much wider catchment area.
