In 2016, world shipments of wireless Wi-Fi speakers increased by 62% and reached 14 million units, calculated in Strategy Analytics.

A significant contribution to the recovery made by Amazon, which accounted for 77% of the total increase in the supply of devices. According to experts, last year Amazon released more than 5 million smart speakers Echo, ahead of the former market leader Sonos, the result of which slightly exceeded 4 million devices.

According to Strategy Watches analyst David Watkins (David Watkins), Echo's wireless speakers with built-in voice assistant Alexa turned out to be a winning formula for Amazon, and the company's success affected the whole industry.

He also noted that the popular Echo Dot model contributes to the additional growth of the wireless speaker market, as it is often used in conjunction with Bluetooth-speakers for better sound.

The specialist added that Sonos, which previously controlled half of the Wi-Fi-speaker market, is losing its share under the onslaught of new players, but in the segment of high-end devices the dominant positions of this vendor remain unchanged. At the same time, the expert warned that Apple HomePod speakers, which will soon enter the market, will compete directly with the models of Sonos.

According to the forecast of Strategy Analytics, by 2022 "smart" speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home, which experts consider as a subcategory of the broader market for Wi-Fi speakers, will occupy almost 90%, while in 2016 the share of such Of the models was 42%.