2018 will be the year in which smart speakers will increase substantially in sales compared to previous years, or at least that's what analysts expect at the moment. According to Canalys, 56.3 million smart speakers will be sold in 2018, almost double the 30 million sold in 2017.
Google and Amazon will remain the main manufacturers of smart speakers in 2018, despite the fact that Apple will launch its own product of this kind under the name HomePod. HomePod will not be the only smart speaker from a new manufacturer, and this is because Samsung and other companies intend to do the same.
Smart speakers have the highest growth in sales compared to any other category of electronic products, including wearables, or gadgets for augmented reality. Considering the very fast evolution of sales, 2018 will be a defining year for smart speakers, many may abandon their production if sales are not good enough.
"2018 will be the defining year for smart speaker adoption. Smart speaker uptake has grown faster than any other consumer technology we've recently encountered, such as AR, VR or even wearables. While 2017 has been a banner year for smart speakers in terms of hardware sales, especially for Google and Amazon, smart speakers in 2018 will move beyond hardware, with strategic attempts to monetize the growing installed base in the US and beyond."
Regarding the countries with the most consumers, the USA will remain in the first position, followed by China, where sales will be almost 10 times lower. The USA has been and will remain the main market for the launch of new major technologies, and smart speakers have been successful there not only thanks to the hardware, but also to the adjacent services.
