Smart speaker sales jumped in 2017, with shipments jumping over 300 percent from the year before to 32 million units, according to the latest study from Strategy Analytics, covering 19 smart speaker vendors and 11 voice operating systems. For the fourth quarter, shipments grew 305 percent went to 18.6 million units. Google and Amazon accounted for 9 out of every 10 speakers sold in the fourth quarter, with Google increasing its market share to over 35 percent, while Amazon’s share fell to just over half. The quarter was also marked by the entrance of more market vendors.
Sales for first time buyers (and others) were pushed by aggressive discounting tacticts and a wider choice of models, price points and country availability.
In Q4, Amazon shipped 9.7 million, an increase of the 4.1 million shipped the year earlier, though its market share fell to 51.8 percent from 88 percent. Google shipment rose to 6.7 million from 0.4 million, with the market share lifting to 35.7 percent from 8.7 percent.
Alibaba trailed behind, with shipments going to 0.5 million from 0, and its market share reaching 2.4 percent. Sonos came next with shipments going up to 0.4 million from 0, and its market share amounting to 1.3 percent. Finally, Harman Kardon/JBL shipped 0.3 million from 0, taking its market share to 1.3 percent. The rest of the vendors sold 1.3 million from 0.1 million year-on-year, with their market share rising to 6.9 percent from 3.3 percent.
