Amazon Echo, Google Home Helping Fuel Growth in Home Audio, Says Futuresource

The global home audio market outperformed the overall CE category and is on track to finish the year at 102 million shipments valued at close to $11 billion, said a Futuresource report Wednesday. It cited Amazon’s Echo and Google Home speakers in a category led by sound bars and Bluetooth speakers. Growth of music streaming services and music playback on smartphones is creating demand for a wide range of wireless audio products, said Futuresource. The voice-enabled personal assistant speaker category will expand with Microsoft teaming with Harman on a Cortana-powered product and a possible Siri-enabled speaker from Apple, said analyst Simon Bryant. Bluetooth speakers are 80 percent of the wireless speaker market, and sound bars had 15 percent growth in 2016, said the research firm.