Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
HomePod Holds Estimated 70% Share of Growing $200+ Smart Speaker Market
While the HomePod did not rank among the top five smart speakers in worldwide shipments last quarter, it is dominating the premium end of the market, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
Strategy Analytics claims the HomePod accounts for 70 percent of the small but growing $200-plus smart speaker market, topping competing products such as the Google Home Max and a variety of Sonos speakers.
Among smart speakers of any price, the HomePod accounted for just six percent of the market, as Strategy Analytics estimated last month. If accurate, the data shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as the top five best-selling smart speakers are all regularly priced between $49 and $129 in the United States.
By comparison, the HomePod is priced at $349 in the United States, although rumors have suggested Apple has considered releasing a lower-priced version, possibly in the form of a Siri-enabled Beats speaker.
The world's most-shipped smart speakers last quarter were the Google Home Mini, Amazon Echo Dot, Amazon Echo, Chinese company Alibaba's Tmall Genie, and the Google Home, according to Strategy Analytics. As always, it's important to remember that shipments don't necessarily reflect sales to customers.
David Watkins, Director of Strategy Analytics' Smart Speaker Service:
All in all, the smart speaker market is shaping up to be a lot like other product categories Apple operates in. Apple dominates the premium end of the smartphone market with the iPhone, for example, whereas Samsung and many other Android smartphone makers offer a variety of devices at a wide range of price points.
Strategy Analytics claims the HomePod accounts for 70 percent of the small but growing $200-plus smart speaker market, topping competing products such as the Google Home Max and a variety of Sonos speakers.
Among smart speakers of any price, the HomePod accounted for just six percent of the market, as Strategy Analytics estimated last month. If accurate, the data shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as the top five best-selling smart speakers are all regularly priced between $49 and $129 in the United States.
By comparison, the HomePod is priced at $349 in the United States, although rumors have suggested Apple has considered releasing a lower-priced version, possibly in the form of a Siri-enabled Beats speaker.
The world's most-shipped smart speakers last quarter were the Google Home Mini, Amazon Echo Dot, Amazon Echo, Chinese company Alibaba's Tmall Genie, and the Google Home, according to Strategy Analytics. As always, it's important to remember that shipments don't necessarily reflect sales to customers.
David Watkins, Director of Strategy Analytics' Smart Speaker Service:
Unsurprisingly, Amazon and Google models dominated the best-selling list of smart speakers in Q2 2018. The Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo Dot accounted for a combined 38% of global shipments although they contributed just 17% towards the value of the market due to their low price.As noted by Watkins, Apple has marketed the HomePod's premium audio quality more than its Siri capabilities, as justification for its $349 price. Reviews do agree it sounds a lot better than offerings from Google and Amazon.
Apple on the other hand has focused its smart speaker efforts at the premium end of the market, promoting the HomePod's audio prowess ahead of the device's voice control capabilities.
All in all, the smart speaker market is shaping up to be a lot like other product categories Apple operates in. Apple dominates the premium end of the smartphone market with the iPhone, for example, whereas Samsung and many other Android smartphone makers offer a variety of devices at a wide range of price points.
Related Roundup: HomePod
Tag: Strategy Analytics
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Neutral)
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10 months ago
theres a $200+ market? who knew lol
I'm kind of like ... The HomePod shares 100% of the homepod market. The 200$+ market seems fairly fabricated to make apple look good?
10 months ago
This is like baseball statistics. Slice and dice any way you like to get a stat that sounds impressive. "He bats 90% when he hits on the 2nd Tuesday of September after a 4 game winning streak."
10 months ago
The HomePod actually caused me to invest in my first few Sonos speakers. I had largely ignored the entire wirelessly connected home audio market until Apple mentioned it. A good friend has a HomePod, and we've done side by side A:B testing. The HomePod is excellent. But for roughly the same price as a stereo pair of Sonos One's, it's not even close. Stereo separation just can't be faked. The longer I use my Sonos the more I keep buying additional units for around my house.
10 months ago
Sonos have sold out to Amazon and their Alexa system, screw them. Anyone on this forum who owns Sonos should be replacing their Sonos speakers with Apple. Support the REAL trillion dollar company and not those hacks.
Ah I see, so you just hate anything not made by Apple.. no matter how much better it is.
10 months ago
Gotta love those flickering moiré patterns whenever you scroll by a HomePod story.
If HomePods were people, they’d dress in these camera-confusing shirts:
If HomePods were people, they’d dress in these camera-confusing shirts:
10 months ago
I still dont understand this thing. You can hook up an Eco dot to a Sonos system and it can do 100x more then a Homepod.
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