Global smart speaker shipments total 19.7 million units in Q3 2018, Canalys reports-- a 137% Y-o-Y increase over Q3 2017 shipments of 8.3m, and well in line with the Canalys forecast of 75m for the whole of 2018.

Following the initial wave of smart speaker adoption, vendors are rapidly changing marketing strategies to target different user groups. For instance, college and university students are key music streaming service consumers, making easy targets for Amazon and Google through back-to-school deals. Vendors are also building on the theme of home automation and IoT by positioning smart speakers as central hubs, but they still face a key issue in lowering the technical barriers to adoption.

Amazon leads the market with 6.3m Echo units, as the online retailer turned hardware maker reclaims the top spot through the success of Prime Day. Former leader Google follows with shipments reaching 5.9m, and the analyst points out the battle between the two companies is helping smart speakers grow not only in the US but also other key markets such as the UK.

China is the 2nd biggest smart speaker market in Q3 2018, with shipments reaching 5.8m. The quarter sees the entry of Baidu threaten to break the current Alibaba-Xiaomi duopoly, even as Alibaba retains 3rd place in the global rankings by shipping 2.2m Tmall Genie speakers. The UK is the 3rd biggest smart speaker market with shipments reaching 10m, beating S. Korea.

Go Amazon Reclaims Top Spot in Smart Speaker Market in Q3 2018