A sharp drop in shipments of Amazon Alexa drove a "correction" in the US smart speaker market in 2021.
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A sharp drop in shipments of Amazon Alexa drove a “correction” in the US smart speaker market in 2021, with sales resuming a more normalized rate of growth after record shipments in 2020, according to Omdia’s Smart Speakers Quarterly Report – 4Q21.
Further analysis from the report shows that the US smart speaker market ended 2021 down nearly 30% in total shipments relative to 2020. This was predominantly due to a nearly 51% drop in Amazon Alexa smart speaker shipments in 2021 compared to the prior year.
This sharp slowdown should not be a surprise given the altered consumer buying habits seen during the pandemic. 2020 should be viewed as an extreme outlier in smart speaker penetration. In fact, market size and growth from 2019 are on par with 2021, suggesting a market correction has taken place over the past year.
Not all players in the market saw their shipments shrink last year. Although Amazon experienced a sharp slowdown in 2021 relative to 2020, Google experienced a year-on-year (YoY) increase of about 2% in the same period, while Apple’s shipments increased by about 51% YoY.
Table 1: US smart speaker market by platform, 2021, thousands of shipments
|
Brand |
2021 shipments |
2021 market share |
2020 shipments |
2020 market share |
Growth YoY |
|
Amazon |
21,936 |
44.1% |
45,426 |
64.7% |
-51.7% |
|
|
20,281 |
40.8% |
19,821 |
28.2% |
2.3% |
|
Apple |
7,527 |
15.1% |
4,976 |
7.1% |
51.3% |
|
Total |
49,743 |
100% |
70,223 |
100% |
-29.2% |
Source: Omdia
In 4Q21, Amazon experienced a sharp decline of about 78% YoY, bringing its US smart speaker market share to 38%, down from 65% in the year-ago period. Conversely, although Google’s and Apple’s shipments were down about 35% YoY in 4Q21, the market shares of Google and Apple increased. Google’s share of smart speaker shipments in 4Q21 was 47%, while Apple’s share doubled from the previous year to about 14%.
Table 2: US smart speaker market by platform, 4Q21, thousands of shipments
|
Brand |
4Q21 shipments |
4Q21 market share |
4Q20 shipments |
4Q20 market share |
Growth YoY |
|
Amazon |
4,250 |
38.7% |
20,181 |
64.9% |
-78.9% |
|
|
5,146 |
46.9% |
8,494 |
27.3% |
-39.4% |
|
Apple |
1,574 |
14.3% |
2,405 |
7.7% |
-34.6% |
|
Total |
10,969 |
100% |
31,080 |
100% |
-64.7% |
Source: Omdia
Amazon and Google continue to ship similar numbers of own-branded smart speakers. During the full year, Amazon-branded smart speaker shipments in the US were 18.8 million, compared to 14.5 million for Google-branded smart speakers. The gradual increase in Google smart speakers aligns with a recent consumer survey from Omdia, which found a YoY change of regular usage favored Apple and Facebook.
Figure 1: Which of the following smart speakers do you currently own/use regularly? The US – % change YoY, 2021 vs. 2020
Source: Omdia
Regarding smart speaker design in the US market, about 14 million smart speakers with a display were shipped in 2021, down from about 17.5 million in 2020. Although shipments of smart speakers with a display slowed YoY in 2021, the US market for smart speakers with a display is nearly twice the size relative to 2019, when only 7 million speakers with a display were shipped.
Despite the slowdown last year, Omdia expects smart speakers with a display to continue to take more share of the entire smart speaker market, as the “voice as the new user interface” trend reaches its twilight. Instead, Omdia sees voice being complemented by screens throughout the home.
Despite the rapid slowdown in the US smart speaker market last year compared to 2020, the future remains bright for this market. Omdia remains bullish on the use cases and adoption rates that come with smart speakers, and these devices will remain the cornerstone of smart homes in the years to come.
Appendix
Further reading
Smart Speakers Quarterly Report – 4Q21 (February 2022)
Author
Blake Kozak, Sr. Principal Analyst, Smart Home