Global smart speakers shipments totaled 125 million in 2019

According to a report by Canalys released yesterday, vendors shipped a total of 125 million smart speakers worldwide in 2019, 60% more than in 2018. Shipments in China more than doubled, from 21.9 million in 2018 to 52.0 million in 2019 and contributed 64% of all shipment growth in the year, thanks to Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi. Baidu stood out with its impressive 384% growth as its shipments grew from 3.6 million in 2018 to 17.3 million in 2019.

The report also finds that the worldwide smart speaker market grew 52% in Q4 2019, with vendors shipping 49.2 million units in the quarter. The last quarter of 2019 saw all five top vendors, Amazon, Google, Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi, break their all-time best shipment records. Amazon led the market, shipping 15.6 million units, up 38%, while Google shipped 12.5 million units and jumped back to second place after flagging in the previous two quarters.

In this Techloy chart, we compare the total units of smart speakers shipped globally between 2018 and 2019 among the top five vendors, showing that Google witnessed a sluggish growth in the sales of its smart speakers, Google Home and Google Nest, perhaps due to privacy concerns and its pricey offering. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Alexa which controls about 30% share is expected to continue dominating the smart speakers market in 2020.