Giant participation often gives good expectations in certain areas, such as smart speakers, whether it is to get more learning resources for their own AI or to cut off a piece of cake for the Internet of Things or smart home, the global technology giant is actively in this small object. On the layout. So, for a period of time, the industry will at least 'look beautiful'.
A recent report by research firm Canalys predicts that by the end of this year, the number of global smart speakers will reach 100 million units, nearly 2.5 times that of last year. The data itself is not too new, because at the beginning of this year, it released A report predicts that by the end of this year, global shipments of smart speakers will reach 56.3 million units, up from 30 million units in 2017.
Combining the two reports, Canalys just released the forecast report at the beginning of the year. The similarity between the two reports is that Amazon Echo and Google Home will continue to lead. The new report is more specific. Canalys believes that the market share of Amazon Echo smart speakers will exceed 50% this year, and Google Home smart speakers will reach 30% market share this year.
As for Apple HomePod, it doesn't seem to be considered too much. It is expected to be 4% this year. Of course, compared to Amazon Echo, HomePod is released at night, but in the case of Nail Technology, the price may also restrict its rapid opening. The reason, another reason is that HomePod is not too smart compared to many friends, it has been used as a 'emphasis on sound quality', the situation is slightly worse.
Another suggestion that HomePod may not be optimistic is that at the beginning of the year, considering that 'this year Apple's HomePod smart speaker will also be officially released, which will help popularize smart speakers', Canalys recently believes that the proportion of the US smart speaker market will be global. From 73% in 2017 to 64%.
In the Chinese market, Canalys is more optimistic. It believes that from 3% to about 10% last year, it highlights the strong interest in smart speakers in the Chinese market. However, in the view of Nail Technology, Canalys is slightly conservative in the Chinese market, because it includes Baidu, Jingdong and other manufacturers are trying to scale the product through the 'substantial' decline in prices, while Ali and others are giving new capabilities to smart speakers to attract consumers.
In addition, according to the development track of smart phones, if the global smart speaker market can flourish, the main thrust should still be in the Chinese market.
Of course, Nail Technology's 'conservative' is only considered from the market share level. For the forecast of shipments and possession, the technology believes that Canalys is slightly optimistic.
First, smartphones are still the most popular and viscous smart devices, the voice capabilities provided by smart speakers, the intellectual property portal entry capabilities, and smart phones have already been available;
Second, the home appliance products themselves also have the intelligence ability, and also supplement the voice capabilities of the smart speakers, and the interconnection with the smart phone is also very convenient.
Third, in the first quarter of this year, smart speaker shipments increased by more than 200%, but only 9 million units. At present, there is no opportunity to see a surge in shipments.
In addition, in contrast, smart speakers are relatively single in some aspects (interaction, etc.), and portability is also poor, even if they are placed in a fixed scene as a central control and entrance, they need to be converted with the smart phone, or even itself. Need to connect a smart phone, not alternative, more like an IoT over-product, the meaning does not seem very big.
At present, whether it is more than 50 million shipments or about 100 million possessions, this year is not so easy to do.