Smart speakers signal sensor opportunity
This provides a high growth opportunity for MEMS microphones and other sensors and actuators.
Global shipments of smart speakers are expected to reach 62.25 million units in 2018. The expansion of Google Home into more regions and smart speaker deployments in China is expected to drive the 53 percent expansion in 2019, the firm said. Apple, Facebook, Baidu, and Tencent have also entered the market in 2018.
Global smart speaker shipments 2016 to 2019. Source: TrendForce.
First mover Amazon accounts for around 70 percent of the US market, which has forced Google to look overseas, said TrendForce analyst Tom Tien.
With multi-lingual support Google Home was available in six countries in 2017, 13 in 2018 and is expected to be in 18 countries in 2019. This should drive Google Home global shipments to 30.96 million units in 2019, a YoY growth of 72 percent.
However, smart speakers produced by Amazon, Apple, and Google are all unavailable in China leaving domestic producers large and small to fight for marketshare. Alibaba and Baidu are both competing with aggressively low prices in the Chinese market. TrendForce forecasts that Chinese smart speaker brands would reach shipments of 28.71 million units in 2019, a significant YoY growth of 101.2 percent from 14.27 million units in 2018.
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