Sales were mainly driven by festive promotions; these helped make China the largest smart speaker market in the world, passing the US for the first time, with a 51 percent share. By comparison, 5.0 million units shipped in the US, with the country’s market share sliding to 24 percent from 44 percent the year before. The UK made up 5 percent of smart speaker shipments while the rest of the world made up 20 percent.
By company, Amazon and Google still led the pack but Chinese manufacturers, and namely Baidu and Alibaba, muscled in, taking market share from both, as well as from Xiaomi. Amazon shipped the most units, at 4.6 million from 2.5 million the year before, but its market share dipped lower to 22.1 percent form 27.7 percent. Google shipments increased to 3.5 million from 2.3 million but its market share more than halved to 16.8 percent from 36.2 percent.
In third place, Baidu shipments and market share lifted to 3.3 million and 16 percent from virtually nothing the year earlier. At Alibaba, the market share went up to 15.5 percent from 11.8 percent, with shipments rising to 3.2 million from 1.1 million. Xiaomi rounded off the top five, with shipments going higher to 2.9 million from 1.5 million, while its market share slipped to 14.2 percent from 17.3 percent. The market share of others was off to 14.2 percent from 17.3 percent, though shipments climbed to 2.9 million from 1.5 million.
