China's smart speaker market contracted in 2020 amid the COVID-19 epidemic and limited application scenarios, said an industrial report.

 

Last year, a total of 36.76 million smart speaker units were sold in China, down by 8.6 percent year on year, data from global market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) showed.

 

However, the sales of smart speakers with screens surged by 31 percent year on year last year, accounting for 35.5 percent of the total sales, said the report.

 

The Alibaba, Baidu, and Xiaomi trio continued to dominate the smart speaker market in the country. They have a combined market share topping 95 percent, according to IDC.

 

The firm projected that smart speaker sales in China would see a 14-percent jump from 2020 to surpass 42 million units in 2021.