China accounts for over 50% of smart speaker shipments

"China has surpassed the United States to lead the smart speaker market.
According to new data from Canalys, China’s smart speaker shipments grew by 500 percent in Q1 2019 to achieve a 51 percent market share. The U.S. has dropped to a 24 percent market share in the same quarter, down from its 44 percent share in Q4 2018.
Baidu, for example, shipped 3.3 million speakers, bolstered by an exclusive sponsorship deal with China’s national TV channel, CCTV, on its New Year’s Gala on Chinese New Year’s Eve. The promotion prompted users to download the Baidu app, which handed out more than 100 million coupons. The company is now in third place in smart speaker shipments, behind Amazon at 4.6 million and Google at 3.5 million. Alibaba and Xiaomi each had 3.2 million shipments, with both benefiting from Chinese New Year promotions."

Source:  PYMNTS, 21st May 2019

96% of American households have a TV, 87% have a smartphone

"Smartphones continue their meteoric popularity and are now owned in 87 percent of U.S. homes, second only to televisions at 96 percent ownership, according to new Consumer Technology Association (CTA) research. CTA’s 20th Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential Study also shows that for the first time, the top three most-frequently owned tech products are now screen devices, as laptops – trailing only TVs and smartphones – reached their highest ownership level ever at 72 percent.
[...]
Among new, emerging tech categories, smart speakers including the Amazon Echo and Google Home have nearly tripled in ownership rate to reach 22 percent of American households, making it one of the fastest-adopted technologies since tablets. Smartwatch adoption continues to grow, with 18 percent of U.S. households now owning at least one of the devices – an increase of six percentage points over last year. Additionally, ownership rates of drones and virtual reality (VR) headsets were measured at ten and 11 percent of households, respectively.
Consumers Remain Focused on The Big Screen
Next-gen screen technologies and the availability of larger screen sizes drove more U.S. consumers to buy technology in and around the TV. 4K Ultra High Definition televisions experienced the largest growth in household ownership rate, rising 15 percentage points year-over-year to reach 31 percent households ownership, and one in five (19 percent) households owns a TV with a screen size of 60 inches or bigger. Ownership of digital media streaming devices rose nine percentage points since last year to 45 percent of households."
Source:  Press release from the Consumer Technology Association, 25th June 2018

16% of Americans own a smart speaker

"One in six Americans now own a smart speaker, according to new research out this week from NPR and Edison Research – a figure that’s up 128 percent from January, 2017. Amazon’s Echo speakers are still in the lead, the report says, as 11 percent now own an Amazon Alexa device compared with 4 percent who own a Google Home product.
Today, 16 percent of Americans own a smart speaker, or around 39 million people.
The holiday shopping season also seemed to have played a role in the increased adoption of smart devices in the U.S., with 7 percent of Americans reporting they acquired at least one smart speaker between Black Friday and the end of December, and 4 percent saying they acquired their first smart speaker during the holidays."

Source:  Techcrunch, 12th January 2018