Canalys, a market research firm, has reported that Amazon shipped three times the number of smart speaker/display units as Google in the third quarter of 2019. The company says that Google was responsible for 3.5 million units compared with Amazon’s 10.4 million. Alibaba cam in second with 3.9 million.
During Q3, shipments of 28.6 million smart speakers and displays were made, compared to the 26.1 Q2 2019 and 19.7 million in Q3, according to Canalys.
Canalys says that Amazon’s success is due to the strength of the e-commerce giant’s direct channel, Prime Day sales and other promotions, and even the company’s Echo trade-in program. Google does sell directly through traditional retailers, as well as other channel partners, although the company’s direct sales haven’t been a match for that of Amazon.
Canalys pointed out that the “smart display category grew 500% globally to reach 6.3 million units in Q3 2019.” According to the firm, the Echo Show 5 (smart display) “contributed significantly” to Amazon’s Q3 success. The overall share of smart displays in Q3 was 20% for the first time, indicating increasing traction for the devices.
For a competitive edge against Amazon, Google has been wanting to use smart displays, especially the Nest Hub Max, although it hasn’t really been working out very well.
There are estimates that have been circulating in the market about the total number of smart speakers. According to research firms, the number of devices in the US homes are above 100 million. Canalys projected that there would be 225 million smart speaker/display devices around the world by 2020.