The global home audio market outperforms the wider CE market in 2016, Futuresource Consulting reports-- shipments for the year total 102 million units, bringing revenues worth $11 billion.
"Over the last few years home audio has been the go-to growth category for CE, but 2016 is pushing expectations even further," the analyst says. "Against a backdrop of activity from soundbars and Bluetooth speakers, and the success of Amazon's Echo and Alexa, it's been a record year that is also building firm foundations for future growth."
Driving the market is growing interest in music streaming services, as well as playback from smartphones, pushing demand for wireless audio products. Bluetooth speakers make 80% of the 2016 wireless speaker market, and should remain popular thanks to lower costs. Soundbars are also popular, with shipments growing by 15% to 16 million units.
Also seen in 2016 is the rise of voice-based assistants such as Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant and Microsoft's Cortana, and Futuresource predicts voice interaction will place enabled audio devices at "the centre of the smart home revolution."
As for 2017, the flurry of activity from big names such as Amazon, Google and Samsung point towards another solid, if not thrilling, year.
