Amazon smart speakers account for 66.6% of the U.S. market share; however, the number will shrink to 63.3% in 2019 and through 2020, according the latest report by research firm eMarketer.
Amazon smart speakers account for 66.6% of the U.S. market share; however, the number will shrink to 63.3% in 2019 and through 2020, according the latest report by research firm eMarketer.
According to the firm’s forecast, Google’s U.S. smart speaker market share will increase from 29.5% in 2018 to 31% in 2019. Meanwhile, speakers made by other companies, including Apple and Sonos, will increase from 8.9% in 2018 to 12% in 2019.
“Google has the Home Mini and Home Hub to compete with Amazon’s Echo Dot and Echo Show, and both the Apple HomePod and Facebook Portal will experience their first holiday season this year,” says eMarketer analyst Jaimie Chung at in a statement.
“Amazon has remained relevant by plugging Alexa into premium speakers like the Sonos, but even Sonos plans to bring Google Assistant to its devices next year, keeping the two companies neck and neck in the voice assistant race,” Chung added.
The number of users having a smart speaker in the U.S. will reach 74.2 million in 2019, increasing 15% from this year, says eMarketer. Around 26.8% of U.S. adults will use one smart speaker at least once per month by the end of 2019.
2018 is a milestone year for Amazon Alexa. It got several
new features, including more profound visual communication for display devices, Skype audio and video calling, Routines, Announcements,
Apple Music and Microsoft Cortana support. There are now more than 70,000 Alexa skills, with 4,500 brands selling over 28,000 Alexa-compatible devices.
Users tend to use smart speakers for basic functions, despite the devices’ growing capabilities, says the report. Users haven’t explored all the features of smart speakers, and still use them mostly to listen to music, catch up news, get weather and traffic updates and ask general questions.