Skip to main content

The Amazon Echo Dot is the single best-selling smart speaker of them all

Amazon Echo Dot Amazon

Just a week ago, Google was celebrating its new status at the top of the smart speaker heap when reports revealed that the Google Home had beaten all other competitors when it came to the number of units shipped. But as ever in this fast changing space, the celebration was short-lived. A new report now suggests that the best selling smart speaker in the market remains within the Amazon Echo ecosystem. The less-than-$50 Echo Dot is definitively the most popular smart home speaker around. The report comes from Thinknum, who tracked “sales raking data since 2016 at Best Buy for the category.”

Why Best Buy? As Thinknum points out, it’s the only major electronics store that sells smart speakers from all the major folks — Amazon, Google, and Apple. You can’t entirely trust online data, as the Google Home isn’t even sold on Amazon (and if you search for it, you’ll instead be taken to a page to buy the Echo), and similarly, you can’t buy the Apple HomePod from the Google Store (or vice versa).

Related Videos

And while there are other retailers that carry all three product lines, none sell quite as many as Best Buy does, nor have they been carrying these products for as long as Best Buy has — in fact, Best Buy first started selling smart speakers way back in 2016, before they were truly considered must-haves for all smart homes.

Ever since then, the Echo Dot has been the top seller. In fact, the top three spots in the best seller list all belong to the Echo Dot — most popular is the second-generation device in black, followed by the white version, followed by the original Dot. The Google Home Mini comes in at fourth place, and has a similar price point of around $45.

The Apple HomePod is, by comparison, struggling to keep up. When looking at the top 20 smart speakers, the HomePod ranks 17. This isn’t entirely surprising given that critics have bemoaned the lack of third-party integrations and the smart speaker’s  inability to do much more than play songs from Apple Music. Plus, the steep price tag makes it a bit inaccessible to some customers, especially when they have a much cheaper option (like the Echo Dot) to fall back on.

Editors' Recommendations

Nest Mini (2nd-gen) vs. Amazon Echo Dot (5th-gen)
The Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen) with Clock.

Smart speakers come in many sizes, and pitting the Amazon Echo Dot (now on the fifth generation) vs. the Nest Mini (currently on the second version) compares some of the smallest available. These tiny speakers are still loud enough to play music or perform other audio functions for people nearby, and they can make great desktop companions or even smart alarm clocks in some cases.

Which is the best? Despite their diminutive sizes, these little speakers have a lot of differences, starting with their design. Let’s take a look.
Design

Read more
The history of the Amazon Echo
Amazon Echo sitting on a sidetable.

It hasn’t even been a decade since the first Amazon Echo was released, but this Alexa-powered smart speaker line has become popular in homes around the world. As Amazon continues to refine and refocus the Echo, we’re taking a look at the history of the device and how things have changed over the years. Let’s take a trip back in time to see how this smart device has evolved.
The standard Amazon Echo

This Echo is the standard smart speaker first released by Amazon, the flagship model that would define all others and introduce Alexa to the world. It’s also the model that has gone through the most changes.

Read more
Everything announced at Amazon’s 2022 Fall Event: new Echos, Fire TVs, Kindle Scribe, and more
Amazon Astro in a build with Ring Virtual Security Guard on its screen.

Amazon announced everything from new Echos, to security cameras, to Fire TVs, and more at its September 28 devices and services event. The new hardware underscores a commitment to what the company dubs "ambient intelligence:" every interaction should be intuitive, proactive, and personalized to help you enjoy the here and now. What's the secret sauce that lets Amazon deliver these contextual experiences? Sensors. Many of the products announced today come with sensors designed to help monitor and enhance a person's environment and experience. Of course, you can adjust the settings to still keep your data private.

Most of the products will be available later this year, with others (ahem, Astro) coming one day. We've rounded up everything Amazon announced today.
Amazon smart speakers

Read more