Smart Assistant Dominance Intensifies with the Growing Smart Home Market

The worldwide smart home device market is made up of smart speakers, digital media adapters, lighting, thermostats, and more. In 2018, the market forecasts shipping 549.5 million devices. This half-million shipment is a 26.8% growth over last year.

Currently, Smart Speakers and Video Entertainment products are the top categories. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Smart Home Device Tracker, these two categories are expected to represent 71% of the market with a 12.0% compound annual growth rate from 2018-2022.

The video entertainment category is primarily made up of smart TVs and digital media adapters, causing device and platform makers to compete for users’ attention. Amazon’s Alexa leads the market, but Google Assistant is expected to gain dominance.

Though the race for dominance is heated, the number of smart assistant-enabled TVs and digital media adapters shipped remains relatively small compared to smart speakers.

Adam Wright, senior research analyst for IDC’s Consumer IoT Program, says that consumers most often access a smart assistant through smart speakers thanks to extensive marketing campaigns from Amazon, Apple and/or Google. Still, Siri struggles to outperform Alexa or Google Assistant.