Strategy Analytics: 2018 Global Smart Speaker Sales Reached 86.2 Million Units on Back of Record Q4

MILTON KEYNES, England–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/search?q=%24AAPL&src=ctag” target=”_blank”gt;$AAPLlt;/agt;–The final results are in and they confirm that smart speakers were
the hottest consumer electronics product in 2018. Strategy Analytics’
latest research shows that Q4 shipments grew 95% to 38.5 million units.
This was more than the entire 2017 total and brought the 2018 tally to
86.2 million units. Amazon and Google enjoyed a particularly strong
quarter thanks to the popularity of their low-cost Echo Dot and Home
Mini speakers and both companies recorded quarter-on-quarter increases
in market share. Apple’s HomePod sales rose 45%, but its market share
fell back to 4.1% in Q4.


The full report from Strategy Analytics’ Smart Speakers and Screens
(SSS) service, Smart Speaker Vendor & OS Shipment and Installed Base
Market Share by Region: Q4 2018 can be found here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/devices/connected-home/smart-speakers-and-screens/market-data/report-detail/global-smart-speaker-vendor-os-shipment-and-installed-base-market-share-by-region-q4-2018


David Watkins, Director at Strategy Analytics, commented: “Smart
speakers and smart displays were once again the most sought-after tech
products this past holiday season and we estimate that more than 60
million households worldwide now own at least one device. Smart displays
such as Google’s Home Hub, Amazon’s Echo Show and Baidu’s Xiaodu Zaijia
are proving popular with consumers who are attracted by the combination
of audio and visual stimulus and the wider range of use cases compared
to speaker only devices. Smart displays made up more than 10% of total
shipment demand in Q4 2018 and they are expected to be a significant
driver of growth in the market through 2019.”


David Mercer, Vice President at Strategy Analytics, added, “The
major technology vendors have done a great job at establishing the voice
assistant market and our research shows that users are highly satisfied
with the way smart speakers are improving their daily lives. Now comes
the question of how to monetize the user base and it will be interesting
to see how each player addresses this challenge. The first step will be
to encourage wider and more frequent use of apps and services via smart
speakers that carry a revenue generation opportunity for the device OEM
or platform provider. Voice shopping and ad-insertion are obvious
examples but the industry must address the data security and privacy
concerns of smart speaker users before these become viable revenue
streams.”


A complimentary report highlighting the key findings of Strategy
Analytics’ recent consumer survey of early smart speaker adopters is
available here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/devices/connected-home/smart-speakers-and-screens/reports/report-detail/understanding-early-smart-speaker-adopters


About Strategy Analytics


Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides the competitive edge with advisory
services, consulting and actionable market intelligence for emerging
technology, mobile and wireless, digital consumer and automotive
electronics companies. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia,
Strategy Analytics delivers insights for enterprise success. www.StrategyAnalytics.com


Contacts

European Contacts:


David Watkins, +33 153 409 952, dwatkins@strategyanalytics.com


David Mercer, +44 1908 423 610, dmercer@strategyanalytics.com


US Contacts:


Bill Ablondi, +1 617 614 0744, wablondi@strategyanalytics.com


Jack Narcotta, +1 617 614 0798, jnarcotta@strategyanalytics.com