According to a new report, Apple may have shipped just 600,000 HomePods in the first quarter of 2018, contributing to just 6% of the smart speaker market.
Apple fails to meet expectations
The new estimates were released by Strategy Analytics, and show Apple falling very short of Amazon and Google’s sales figures for their Echo and Google Home smart speakers. Amazon reportedly shipped around 4 million Echos in the first quarter, and Google shipped an estimate of 2.4 million Google Home devices. This means Amazon and Google dominated 43.6% and 26.5% of the smart speaker market, respectively.
Apple was also beaten by Alibaba and Xiaomi who had 700,000 and 200,000 shipments, respectively. Perhaps Apple’s delay in releasing a smart speaker caused their reduction in sales. Both Amazon and Google dominate despite their speakers not bring available in the Chinese market.
The data cannot be taken as conclusive evidence
However, we must keep in mind that the HomePod was not available for the whole quarter, having only debuted on February 9. Rumours also suggest Apple is developing a cheaper version of the speaker, much like the Amazon Echo Dot and the Google Home Mini. However, as Amazon and Google marketed their products as smart first and foremost, their mini versions work well, but Apple placed a greater focus on their audio quality of their speaker, and this superior element could be lost with a smaller version.
