Amazon pips Google, tops global smart speaker market in Q3 2018: Report

The Q3 2018 results show that Amazon shipped over 6.3 million Echo speakers, while Google shipped 5.9 million speakers from its Home series during the same period.

Amazon has overtaken Google to become the top brand among smart speakers for Q3 2018, according to a Canalys report. The latest report also claims that the global smart speaker shipments have grown by 137 per cent year-on-year with over 19.7 million digital speaker units shipped during this period. It has also predicted that the overall smart speaker shipments in 2018 would cross 75 million units globally.

The Q3 2018 results show that Amazon shipped over 6.3 million Echo speakers, while Google shipped 5.9 million speakers from its Home series during the same period. In terms of percentage, Amazon and Google recorded a market share of 31.9 per cent and 29.8 per cent respectively. The success of Amazon for Q3 2018 can be attributed to its Prime Day sales across the world, which offer great benefits across the speaker range, including the third generation Echo and Echo Dot speakers.

In Q1 2018, Canalys reported that Google shipped 3.2 million smart speakers globally, while Amazon ended with shipments totalling 2.5 million units.  A report by Strategy Analytics for Q2 2018 said that Google sold 2.3 million Home Mini units, while Amazon recorded sales for 2.2 million Echo Dot speakers. While the Home Mini retails in India for Rs 4,499, Amazon’s Echo Dot can be purchased at Rs 4,499.

Also read: Google Home Mini was best-selling smart speaker in Q2, Amazon Echo Dot close second: Strategy Analytics

Alibaba held the third spot for Q3 2018, having recorded more than 200 times YoY growth in shipments for its Tmall Genie speaker, while Xiaomi held fourth spot with a market share of 9.7 per cent. The top three markets for smart speaker shipments for the quarter were the US, China and the UK.