China concentrates more than half of the smart speaker market

Until the end of last year, the United States led the global smart speaker market with more sales than in any other country in the world. Now, however, this situation has changed dramatically. According to a recent study by Canalys , China leads the global smart speaker market.

China at the forefront of smart speakers

According to data from the aforementioned report, China has reached 10.6 million smart speaker units, which is equivalent to a 500% year-on-year growth during the first quarter of 2019.

Driven by promotions and offers, smart speaker sales in China outpaced the trend for global seasonality with sequential growth of 23%. This has made China the largest market for smart speakers, surpassing the United States, where five million units expired during the first quarter of the year. Thus, the global market for smart speakers has reached 20.7 million units, recovering triple-digit growth, 131%.

With these figures, China now represents more than half of the global smart speaker market, at 51%, while the United States' share has fallen from 44% to just 24%.

Regarding companies, Amazon leads the market with a 22.1% share, thanks above all to its low-cost Echo Dot, while Google is second with a 16.8% market share.

As for the Apple HomePod, Canalys includes it in the "Others" category, standing out more for the audio quality, which directs it towards a much more specialized market.

With an increasingly competitive smart speaker market, Apple was forced to lower the price of the HomePod from $ 349 to $ 299, a reduction that in Spain translated into a not very significant € 20.

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