A report by Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) finds that revenues from smart audio devices like the Amazon Echo and Sonos One will grow from an estimated $2.5 billion in 2017 to over $10 billion by 2022, as more audio brands integrate voice assistants into their devices.
The research group sys that the smart speaker market is largely divided by sector and brand. Tech companies are building from a digital assistant perspective, while audio vendors see them as a way to make their products more relevant and feature rich. Only Apple is breaking this pattern, with the HomePod positioned as an intelligent audio device rather than a platform for Siri.
These different approaches affect several elements of product design, with a large impact on prices. The research shows how devices costing over $200 will take over 40% of sector revenue while being only 16% of shipments in 2022, as voice assistants proliferate in premium audio. A window of opportunity exists for tech companies to act before audio players integrate smart capabilities fully into more devices.
“Amazon is the current leader in smart speakers because they were first to build a complete smart audio ecosystem” remarked research author James Moar. “Few audio brands currently integrate voice assistants throughout their portfolio, so users wanting smart audio will need workaround devices for some years to come
The Amazon Echo Dot is the leading device of this type. However, Juniper expects growth for the Dot to slow over the next five years as audio brands introduce more smart audio speakers of their own.