Alibaba Almost Shipped As Many Smart Speakers As Amazon in Q1, 2021

Amazon’s domination of the smart speaker market isn’t as assured as it may seem, with three Chinese manufacturers closing in on the company.

Figures from market research firm Omdia show that Amazon were responsible for 22 per cent of all smart speaker shipments globally, throughout the first quarter of 2021, an impressive market share.

Chinese company Alibaba, however, shipped 21 per cent of global smart speakers, with Xiaomi and Baidu shipping 14 per cent apiece.

When you figure in that none of these three Chinese companies provide speakers to America, the lead appears even more tenuous.

‘Global’ in this case only comprises of seven markets — USA, Australia, France, Germany, Korea, UK, and China — so this isn’t the most accurate global summary, but it is a good reminder that it may seem that Amazon rule the world – but the world is a very big place.