HomePod mini is a success – Apple has doubled market share
Apple is slowly gaining a foothold in the smart speaker market. With the cheaper HomePod mini, both sales and market share have nearly doubled from the same quarter last year.
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HomePod mini is a success
According to figures from market research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple sold about 4 million HomePods in the third quarter of 2021, up from just 2.1 million in the same period last year. That was before the HomePod mini went on sale in November 2020.
Perhaps the good figures at Apple were the deciding factor to finally launch the HomePod mini in the Netherlands. Apple has recently added Dutch as a supported language for the HomePod. A release can therefore not be long in coming.
Amazon and Google dominate the market
Apple’s 92 percent growth is well above the average growth of just under 10 percent in the overall smart speaker market. Apple’s increase is mainly due to the smaller HomePod, Strategy Analytics says.
But with a market share now just over 10 percent, Apple still lags far behind market leaders, Amazon and Google. Together, these serve almost half of the market. With Baidu and Alibaba, even two other Chinese manufacturers have a significant lead over Apple.
In addition to smart speakers, ‘smart displays’ – devices such as Amazon’s Echo Show – are included in the market researchers’ figures. Apple is not (yet?) represented in this segment.
HomePod was too expensive and had too few features
The large HomePod, which cost more than 300 euros, has never lived up to the high expectations. Both from Apple and from customers. It was withdrawn from stores in early 2021 – just three years after its initial release. New features came very slowly, and it’s only since last year that third-party streaming services have been directly supported. With Spotify as the big exception.
Incidentally, Apple is reportedly working on new device categories for a ‘connected’ home, including a smart display with integrated camera and a successor to the Apple TV with speaker system for the TV.
