Q1 2019 China smart speaker sales growth 9.4 times year-on-year, sales growth 3.3 times!

External environment: favorable policies, better than expected economy, booming development of artificial intelligence

In the first quarter of 2019, the government introduced a series of tax cuts and fee reduction measures to reduce the burden on enterprises and increase the disposable income of residents, bringing vitality to market development.With the encouragement and support of the government, the economy got off to a steady start in the first quarter. GDP grew by 6.4% year-on-year, and consumption continued to play a leading role in driving demand, contributing 65.1% to economic growth.

As the basic technology of intelligent speaker, artificial intelligence is developing rapidly.In march, the ministry of education announced a list of newly added undergraduate majors, including "artificial intelligence", with 35 universities approved for construction.Six domestic companies are among the TOP15 in the world in terms of the number of ai patents filed by companies, according to a ranking released by nikkei Chinese website.The enhancement of talent and knowledge reserve creates conditions for the development of artificial intelligence and broadens the boundary for the development of intelligent speakers.

At that time, a large number of enterprises released the strategy of AI+IoT. They developed or cooperated with each other to build the ecology of smart home and realize the interconnection between products.Smart speaker as one of the entrance, also become a strategic focus.

Market size: continuous rapid growth, monopoly of the market giant

Data shows that in the first quarter of 2019, China's smart speaker market sales volume was 7.19 million, a year-on-year growth of 9.4 times;Sales totaled 1.37 billion yuan, up 3.3 times year-on-year.Smart speakers continue to maintain a high rate of growth.On a monthly basis, January's annual cargo festival grew significantly, driving the overall market.From the perspective of brand pattern, brand concentration is extremely high, and the market share of TOP5 enterprises exceeds 98%. Fierce competition leads to fewer new entrants, with only 2 new entrants in the first quarter.The education market continues as giants grab users with low prices.From the market segment, the screen speaker is the highlight of the first quarter, the giant layout, price war has begun.

Although the number of new brands is decreasing, the number of models is increasing. The hardware layout changes from single product competition to product matrix, and the mainstream manufacturers gradually realize the layout of high, middle and low end.Content also began to become the focus of enterprise competition, strengthen cooperation with audio and video manufacturers, increase life service skills.With more and more attention paid to children's education, children's model becomes an important means to expand the use of the scene.

Voice technology and chip technology continue to progress, pushing the product function more and more rich.Custom wake-up words, voice print recognition, voice calls and other functions to better meet consumer demand, NFC, waterproof, wireless charging built-in in the smart speaker, infrared remote control through the smart speaker can achieve the control of traditional home appliances.

Development forecast: the market sales volume is expected to exceed 15 million units in the first half of this year

China's smart speaker market still has a lot of room to grow.Data from foreign institutions show that in 2018, the penetration rate of smart speakers in the United States has reached 41%, while according to the calculation, the penetration rate of smart speakers in China is only about 4%.In addition, in the second quarter, the release of new products is intensive, and the rice noodle festival, 418, 618 and other promotional activities continue, which will further stimulate consumers' shopping desire.Under favorable factors, user experience still needs to be improved, especially in terms of voice interaction, sound quality, content resources, etc. Frequent privacy issues also arouse consumers' vigilance.Combined with the above factors, the smart speaker market in China will reach 15.5 million units in the first half of 2019.