Amazon Echo Maintains Large Market Share Lead in U.S. Smart Speaker User Base
Harman Kardon, JBL, Sony and other speaker manufacturers launched competitors to Amazon Echo in 2017 and Google Home made big strides by rapidly growing its user base by selling more than 10 million devices. However, Amazon Echo products still command nearly 72% market share of current U.S. smart speaker owners according to the Voicebot Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report published yesterday. Keep in mind this data reflects total installed base whereas most reports out recently focus on share of sales for 2017 only. Amazon commanded over 90% market share at the end of 2016 so the company had a big head start over competitors before 2017 began.
Google Home Comes on Strong, Rises to 18% Market Share
Google Home had an impressive year. It may have captured more than 30% of all smart speaker sales in 2017 which helped it rise to 18.4% U.S. smart speaker market share in terms of total users. The device market share breakdown offers insight into where consumer preferences lie. Amazon’s Echo and Dot command over two-thirds of the market alone which is supplemented by Amazon Echo Show smart display sales.
Of particular interest is the fact that the Google Home portfolio has quickly become led by the Google Home Mini. After just three months in market, the Mini surpassed the flagship Home for total users. Smart speakers in use from manufacturers other than Google and Amazon rose to almost 10% with Sonos One leading the pack. Greg Hedges, VP of Emerging Experiences, at RAIN Agency commented:
Amazon’s head start solidifies a leadership position, but the battle with Google is in its early days. Platform leanings may help point to where inroads can be made. -Google’s capability in the language space (Google Translate) may point to fast expansion internationally, whereas Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service (AVS), which allows device makers to embed Alexa into their devices, might push Amazon’s domination via 1st and 3rd party experiences.
You can learn more about the smart speaker market share breakdown along with data on more than twenty other related topics in the Voicebot Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption report here.
Strategy Analytics Reports Explosive Smart Speaker Growth in Q4, 30 Million Units in 2017
