With 10.4 million shipments between July and September, Amazon is unquestionably the global smart speaker market leader. According to Strategy Analytics, Google came in second with 8.1 million shipments over the time period, followed by Baidu with 5.4 million.
Alibaba shipped 4.3 million units, while Apple was the fastest-growing company, with shipments up 92% from 2020 to 4 million units. With 2 million smart speaker shipments, Xiaomi completes the top-six ranking. In the first three quarters of 2021, a total of 39.3 million smart speakers were shipped, up 10% from the previous year.
| Company | Q3 2021 Shipments (in million) | Q3 2021 Market share | Q3 2020 Shipments (in million) | Q3 2020 Market share | Yearly change |
| Amazon | 10.4 | 26.4% | 10.3 | 28.9% | 0% |
| 8.1 | 20.5% | 6.8 | 19.1% | +18% | |
| Baidu | 5.4 | 13.6% | 4.7 | 13.1% | +15% |
| Alibaba | 4.3 | 10.8% | 4.5 | 12.7% | -6% |
| Apple | 4.0 | 10.2% | 2.1 | 5.9% | +92% |
| Xiaomi | 2.0 | 5.1% | 2.1 | 5.8% | -3% |
| Others | 5.2 | 13.3% | 5.3 | 14.7% | 0% |
| Total | 39.3 | 100% | 35.8 | 100% | +9.7% |
With a 26.4 percent market share, Amazon controls more than a quarter of the market, while Google has increased its market share to 20.5 percent from 19.1 percent in Q3 2020. With a market share of 13.6%, Baidu is the third most popular brand, followed by Alibaba (10.8%), Apple (10.2%), and Xiaomi (5.1%). The best-selling smart speaker in 2021, according to Strategy Analytics, is Google’s Nest Mini. Other popular devices are Apple’s HomePod Mini and Amazon’s fourth-generation Echo Dot.
Amazon Echo Speakers are the best in class
Over the last three Echos, Amazon has improved its digital signal processing and sound quality, and the softened edges here aid with fidelity. The updated Echo also includes Amazon’s AZI Neural Edge processor, which improves speech recognition.
It can be used in any room in the home. It’s great for recipes and timers in the kitchen, news and weather in the bedroom, and shower sing-alongs in the bathroom. It’s small, has good sound, and can do everything you’d want a smart speaker to do. If you’re looking for the best music quality, scroll down to the Echo Studio and Sonos One, which are our preferred Alexa speakers for music listening.
