Google smart speakers beats Amazon Echo in Q1 2018; Report

A new quarterly tracking estimate has been coming out from Canalys, which claims that Google has shipped more smart speaker than its rival Amazon in the first quarter of 2018. Search giant Google has shipped roughly 9 million units globally, with year on year growth of 210 percent. The three major markets where it has shipped the device are the Us, China and the UK.

If we talk about the last year, Google has only managed to ship 2.9 million units globally. The company has made a giant leap in the smart speaker segment. Compared to last year Q1 results, where it held only 19.3 percent of the market share, this quarter that share rose to 36.2 percent.

On the other hand, Amazon has only shipped 2.5 million Echo devices with a year on year sales growth by 8 percent. The market share for Amazon fell from nearly 79.6 percent in Q1 2017 to nearly 27.7 percent in Q1 2018.

Meanwhile, Alibaba comes in the third place, with an 11.8 percent share of the market thanks to 1.1 million Tmall Genie shipments, and Xiaomi in fourth place, with 600,000 shipments of its Xiao Ai speakers and 7 percent share.

The Canalys report contradicts the report fromStrategy Analytics for the same quarter which claims that Amazon in the lead, Google second, and Alibaba third.

"Google has several advantages over Amazon that have helped it move ahead. But its biggest advantage is in the channel. Operators and retailers tend to prioritise Google's speakers over those from Amazon, as Amazon is in the tricky position of being a direct competitor. But Amazon is fighting back hard, and the sheer quantity of Alexa Skills and smart home integrations will be tough for any competitor to match," Canalys Analyst Ben Stanton said in the report.

The entry of Google Home in the Indian market also proved to be beneficial for the search giant. As we all know Google has launched its smart speakers in India a couple of months back. So we can also expect the number to go up in the upcoming quarter.

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