• Home
  • News
  • Fortune 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechAmazon

Amazon Is Dominating the Voice-Assisted Speaker Market

By
Leena Rao
Leena Rao
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Leena Rao
Leena Rao
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 8, 2017, 6:00 AM ET

Amazon’s early bet on home automation device Echo is paying off.

The e-commerce giant has a 70% share of the emerging voice-controlled speaker market compared to 23.8% for rival Google, research firm eMarketer said on Monday.

Amazon’s huge lead puts it in a strong position in a fast growing business. In addition to making money from selling the devices, Amazon also benefits from Echo users buying more products from the company’s marketplace.

Use of voice-controlled speakers is soaring. An estimated 35.6 million Americans will use one at least once a month in 2017, a 128.9% increase over last year, eMarketer predicts.

Amazon (AMZN) debuted Echo in 2015 as an alternative to using smartphones, tablets, and computers at home. It allows people to use their voice to get answers to questions, turn on lights, order items like diapers, and even request an Uber car pick them up.

Amazon has since incorporated its Alexa voice assistant, which powers the Echo, into its smaller Echo Dot as well as its Fire tablets. Alexa is also being made available to third-party companies like GE Lighting to use in their products.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Google’ is playing catch up to Amazon with its year-old Echo rival, Google Home, and is still trailing. Google’s device is powered by Google Assistant, which can also be used on Android phones.

Lenovo, LG, and other manufacturers have the remaining 5.6% share of the voice speaker market.

But Apple’s (AAPL) reported plans to introduce its own voice speaker could shake things up considerably considering its expertise with consumer devices. The rival device would incorporate Apple’s popular voice assistant, Siri, a standard feature on iPhones.

For more about Alexa, watch:

In addition to the growing rivalry over voice-controlled speakers, companies are battling for users of their voice assistants. Use of virtual assistants will grow 23.1% this year, to the point that nearly one in five Americans will use one at least once a month this year, eMarketer said.

Winning the voice assistant wars is considered critically important. RBC Capital Markets estimates that “mega-hit” Alexa could bring Amazon another $10 billion in sales by 2020.

Like with a lot of new technology, younger users are early adopters. Millennials account will account for nearly 27% of voice assistant users and nearly one-third of users of mobile virtual assistant this year, eMarketer said.

About the Author
By Leena Rao
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

NewslettersTerm Sheet
How Anthropic grew—and what the $183 billion giant faces next
By Allie GarfinkleDecember 4, 2025
31 minutes ago
Andrew Ross Sorkin and Alex Karp speak onstage during The New York Times DealBook Summit 2025 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 03, 2025 in New York City.
C-Suitepalantir
Palantir CEO Alex Karp defends being an ‘arrogant prick’—and says more CEOs should be, too
By Eva RoytburgDecember 4, 2025
1 hour ago
Apple head of user interface design Alan Dye speaking in a video for the company's 2025 WWDC event. (Courtesy Apple)
NewslettersFortune Tech
Meta poaches Apple interface design chief Alan Dye
By Andrew NuscaDecember 4, 2025
2 hours ago
InnovationBrainstorm Design
Should form always follow function? Architect Ole Scheeren isn’t sure: ‘We think of buildings as living organisms’
By Christina PantinDecember 4, 2025
6 hours ago
satellite
AIData centers
Google’s plan to put data centers in the sky faces thousands of (little) problems: space junk
By Mojtaba Akhavan-TaftiDecember 3, 2025
16 hours ago
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.
AIMeta
Inside Silicon Valley’s ‘soup wars’: Why Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI are hand-delivering soup to poach talent
By Eva RoytburgDecember 3, 2025
16 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
North America
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos commit $102.5 million to organizations combating homelessness across the U.S.: ‘This is just the beginning’
By Sydney LakeDecember 2, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Ford workers told their CEO 'none of the young people want to work here.' So Jim Farley took a page out of the founder's playbook
By Sasha RogelbergNovember 28, 2025
6 days ago
placeholder alt text
North America
Anonymous $50 million donation helps cover the next 50 years of tuition for medical lab science students at University of Washington
By The Associated PressDecember 2, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
C-Suite
MacKenzie Scott's $19 billion donations have turned philanthropy on its head—why her style of giving actually works
By Sydney LakeDecember 2, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Innovation
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 1, 2025
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Scott Bessent calls the Giving Pledge well-intentioned but ‘very amorphous,’ growing from ‘a panic among the billionaire class’
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 3, 2025
18 hours ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.