Amazon Still Smart-Speaker Leader, but 3 Chinese Brands Gained Share, Says SA

Some 147 million smart speakers sold worldwide in 2019, a 70 percent bump over the previous year, reported Strategy Analytics Thursday. Amazon held onto its lead with 26.2 percent share, but that was down from 33.7 percent in 2018. Google’s share also dropped from 25.9 percent to 20.3 percent, while Chinese vendors Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi gained share. Apple remained in sixth place 4.7 percent, it said. Q4’s 55.7 million units were a high for the category, driven by holiday sales in the U.S. and Europe, and a recovery in Google’s smart speaker business after new product intros, improved components supply and promotions with YouTube and Spotify, said the researcher. SA expects another record year for the segment in 2020, despite a near-term impact from the coronavirus.