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Today's 2.5 billion voice assistants could grow to 8 billion in just 5 years

by Adrian Diaconescu / Feb 13, 2019, 6:20 AM

Today's 2.5 billion voice assistants could grow to 8 billion in just 5 years

While the primary category of devices capitalizing on the fast-improving strengths of voice-controlled virtual assistants is undoubtedly comprised of smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home lineups, the larger market is expected to grow at an even crazier pace. We already know Google Assistant is supported on a grand total of around one billion products worldwide, whereas Amazon has recently touted overall sales of 100 million+ devices with Alexa.

But the latest estimates from Juniper Research circle the 2.5 billion magic number at the end of 2018, which is forecasted to reach as many as 8 billion digital voice assistants in use by 2023. That would represent a tripling of today's already impressive count, as well as growth of over 100 percent reported every year for the next half a decade as far as smart TV-powered voice assistants are concerned.

In addition to smart TVs, smart speakers and wearables are also expected to crucially contribute to this staggering expansion, although smartphones should remain the largest platform by volume thanks to Google Assistant and Siri. In other words, most people using a digital assistant five years down the line will still do so on their phones, despite a massive projected rise in global sales of voice-enhanced TVs, speakers, and smartwatches.

All that is good news for Google and Apple, but also Amazon, which is likely to strengthen its dominance in the three fastest-growing categories of voice-assisted hardware platforms with Alexa's versatility and accessibility.

Multi-platform assistants in general are expected to thrive over the coming years, with demand for standalone smartphone and tablet apps likely to decline, causing revenue to start shrinking around 2022. One final interesting prediction in this new Juniper report concerns voice commerce, which may grow "substantially" soon, exceeding $80 billion a year by 2023. We're talking money transfer and purchases of digital goods here in addition to "more traditional" purchases, and Amazon's pioneering efforts in that space should be bolstered as connected TVs and smart displays continue to boost their popularity.

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5 Comments

1. Cat97

Posts: 1936; Member since: Mar 02, 2017

Do these 2.5 billion include hundreds of millions of forced Cortana installs on Windows 10 that no one uses ? I don't think there are more than a few million active users for voice assistants, the rest is marketing or misunderstanding.

posted on Feb 13, 2019, 6:44 AM 0

2. sgodsell

Posts: 7456; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

Cat97, if you actually looked at any other Assistant, other than Siri. Then you would have known that two Assistants stand above the rest, especially when it comes to extending their functionality and capabilities, as well as allowing others to create new hardware that will use one thing that those two Assistants. Those Assistants are Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant. No other Assistants allow users to create new hardware and install their AI voice Assistant on their new hardware. But it doesn't end their. There is even extensions for browsers where you can add one of those two Assistants to it. Also Google Assistant is already embedded in their Chrome browser for certain platforms right now. But they are going to be extending that for more platforms. Not to mention Google is embedding their Assistant to more of their services, like their Maps. So in the near future it won't matter if you are an Android user or an iPhone user. You will still be able to use Google Assistant with in Google's Maps on an iPhone. The thing is there is even a ton of new gadgets that let you add either Alexa or Google Assistant to your car, boat, motorcycle, bicycles, kitchen appliances, or home in general. Like mirrors, smart displays, fridges, stoves, coffee makers, microwaves, and more. Other Assistants, like Siri are no where to be found, or don't allow others to extend them, or allow others to create new hardware that uses any other Assistant. The field is still growing.

posted on Feb 13, 2019, 8:26 AM 0

3. sgodsell

It's going to grow a lot more. Especially in the business sector. Home is one thing, but more and maybe re businesses are going to use these Assistants in the near future. I guarantee it.