Smart speakers could reach 200 million install base in 2019

Analysts believe, there will be 200 million smart speakers by the end of 2019. This will mark as 166% year-on-year growth for smart speakers in mainland China only. Worldwide, the smart speaker base will witness a growth of 85% from 114 million units in 2018 to more than 207 units this year, according to a report by Canalys.

In terms of adoption, the US market will be leading the market. Currently, it accounts for 42% of smart speaker market install base. The US is seeing 46% growth in this space, and will grow from 60 million units to 90 million units in 2019.

The Canalys report predicts that Tmal will hit nearly 40% of the 2019 smart speaker market in China, which will be followed by a quarter of the market for Xiao Ai and DuerOS and around 12% for others.

"Local vendors are bullish about China's smart speaker market, and their aim for this year is to keep growing their respective installed bases in the country by shipping more devices into households," said Jason Low, Canalys analyst.

"Hardware differentiation is becoming increasingly difficult, and consumers have higher expectations of smart speakers and smart assistants. Vendors will need to focus on marketing the next-generation 'wow factor' for their respective smart assistants and voice services to change consumers' perception and drive greater adoption."

China's smart speaker user base is said to reach nearly 60 million units by the end of 2019. That's an exponential amount of growth considering the country only had around 23 million units in 2018.

Speaking of the Indian market, around 7.53 lakh units of smart speakers were shipped in the country last year with Amazon being the leader with a 59% market share in 2018, reported IDC.