Google slips to No 3 position in worldwide smart speaker segment: Canalys

Baidu has passed Google as the number two smart speaker vendor globally in terms of shipments, according to a new report published by market research firm Canalys.

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The rise of Baidu in the smart speaker segment shows that consumers in China are buying more connected speakers with a built-in voice assistant more than any other market in the world.

Google is no more the world’s second-largest player in the smart speaker market. That title goes to Baidu, China’s largest search engine company. According to a new report published by market research firm Canalys, Baidu has passed Google as the number two smart speaker vendor globally in terms of shipments.

The research firm says Baidu’s market share in the worldwide smart speaker segment jumped to 17.3 per cent in the Q2 2019, a year-on-year growth of 3700 per cent. The company shipped 4.5 million units of smart speakers in the second quarter of 2019.

Baidu beating Google in the smart speaker is no small feat, but we also need to keep in mind that the company only sell its smart speakers in China. Nevertheless, the rise of Baidu in the smart speaker segment shows that consumers in China are buying more connected speakers with a built-in voice assistant more than any other market in the world. In the second quarter of 2019, China outdid other major markets with a quarterly shipment size of 12.6 million units, that’s more than double the size of the US market where 6.1 million smart speakers shipped.

Xiaodu smart speaker is the reason why Baidu is doing so well in the smart speaker segment. The $12 (or approx Rs 861) smart speaker runs on Baidu’s own AI conversational platform DuerOS, which is equivalent to Amazon’s Alexa. Earlier this year, Baidu announced that its DuerOS voice assistant has 400 million users.

Baidu beating Google in the smart speaker is no small feat, but we also need to keep in mind that the company only sell its smart speakers in China.

Despite being beaten out by Baidu, Google is still the second-largest player in the smart speaker market. The Mountain View-based company shipped 4.3 million units of smart speakers and held a market share of 16.7 per cent. The biggest challenge Google currently faces is to make people familiar with the Nest branding. Google recently brought its Home lineup of smart speakers under the Nest branding. The research firm also said that Google needs to launch a non-display smart speaker to “rekindle” consumer interest. Google recently launched the Nest Home Hub in India at a price of Rs 9,999.

As expected, Amazon is the leader when it comes to the smart speaker segment. The e-commerce giant managed to ship 6.6 million units and held a market share of 25.4 per cent.