Apple becomes the fourth largest smart speaker brand worldwide

The rumors regarding Apple’s first smart speaker haven’t been great, painting a picture that suggests the device isn’t doing so well in the sales department. According to new research from Strategy Analytics, Amazon shipped 4 million smart speakers during the first quarter of 2018 or an increase of 102 percent year over year. At the same time, Google shipped 2.4 million units, which was a 709 percent increase. Alibaba followed with 700,000 units sold.

Apple announced the Siri-powered HomePod in June 2017. However, it didn’t begin shipping units until this February. Through the end of the March, Cupertino shipped 600,000 HomePod units. What’s remarkable about this number is that the speaker is only available in three countries: the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Plus, HomePod is $349, much more than what competitor charge for their smart speakers.

From the report:

“According to the latest quarterly research from Strategy Analytics, global smart speaker shipments reached 9.2 million units in Q1 2018. Market leader Amazon is estimated to have shipped an impressive 4 million smart speakers during the quarter though its global market share has nearly halved from the same period last year. Google and Alibaba consolidated their number two and three rankings while Apple became the fourth largest smart speaker brand worldwide following the launch of the HomePod in February 2018. Strategy Analytics’ latest smart speaker report, “Global Smart Speaker Vendor & OS Shipment and Installed Base Market Share by Region: Q1 2018” provides detailed quarterly metrics for twenty smart speaker vendors and twelve voice operating systems.”

The most impressive number is the collective. According to Strategy Analytics, the smart speaker market saw 9.2 million devices ship in just the first quarter of 2018.