Global Q1 Smart-Speaker Sales Rose 168% on 500% Increase in China, Says SA

Q1 sales of smart speakers in China soared by more than 500 percent year on year, reported Strategy Analytics Monday. That helped lift global Q1 sales to 25.9 million units, a 168 percent increase from the same 2018 period, it said. The global market shares of Chinese brands rose “much closer” to those of Amazon and Google, it said. “For the first time China has become the world’s largest market for smart speakers,” said SA. It “signals the arrival of smart speakers as one of the hottest consumer technologies in China, just as they have been in North America and parts of Europe for the past couple of years,” it said. “We expect China’s love affair with smart speakers and displays to continue for some time.”