Report: Apple Shipped 1.6 Million HomePod In 4Q 2019 W/ 4.7 Market Share

According to the latest data from Strategy Analytics, Apple shipped 1.6 million HomePods in the fourth quarter of 2019,  up 65% quarter-on-...

According to the latest data from Strategy Analytics, Apple shipped 1.6 million HomePods in the fourth quarter of 2019,  up 65% quarter-on-quarter. Despite this, it's estimated that the worldwide market share of Apple's smart speaker in the holiday quarter was just 4.7%. In opposition, Amazon and Google shipped 15.8 million and 13.9 million units in th quarter, the two have a combined market share of 53.1%.

In terms of ranking, Amazon claimed the top spot with a 28.3% market share and saw 16% YoY growth, while its rival Google comes in at second place with a market share of 24.9% and sees a 20% YoY growth. Nevertheless, Chinese vendors Baidu, Alibaba, and Xiaomi positioned at 3rd place, 4th place, and 5th place, respectively. In the meantime, Apple was occupying at 5th place.

"Consumer appetite for smart speakers remained undimmed during the all-important Q4 period as newly launched devices with improved feature sets and audio performance helped drive record quarterly shipments. Consumers across the world were once again enticed by scarcely believable deals from leading brands such as Google, Amazon, Baidu and Alibaba, while Google in particular stepped up its giveaway promotional activity in partnership with brands such as YouTube and Spotify."

Given its sky-high price tag and that Siri is still not sophisticated yet. And the fact that Apple has just launched a smart speaker in  limited number of countries, HomePod is definitely not going to sell like a hotcake.

As rumors have indicated, though, Apple is planning to launch an affordable version of the HomePod as early as this year, according to a 2019 report from Bloomberg, and says the new model is likely to have two tweeters rather than seven in the current HomePod.