Canalys forecast China’s installed base of smart assistants to be about twice the size of current market leader US by 2023, with the smartphone continuing to be the main device category.

The research company expects the number of smart assistant devices in China (either built-in or compatible) to reach 5.8 billion in four years.

The company estimates the installed base of devices with built-in smart assistants will reach 2.2 billion units in the country, with annual growth of 42 per cent between 2018 and 2023.

Canalys senior analyst Jason Low said: “Chinese smartphone vendors, such as Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, are shifting their strategies to create IoT ecosystems with smart assistants, especially targeting homes with smart speakers and smart assistant-compatible devices.”

Large appliance push
Canalys predicts Chinese households will have an average of seven smart assistant-compatible home devices by 2023. The number of appliances in the country, such as air conditioners, TVs and refrigerators as well as door locks, which will can be controlled by a smart assistants via the network will reach 3.6 billion in four years.

Cynthia Chen, Canalys research analyst, said China’s growing middle class is “relentlessly pursuing a higher standard of living, and smart appliances will play a major part in their vision of the ideal home”.

She noted appliance makers Haier, TCL and Hisense are changing their strategies to capture the trend early.

The rise of smart assistants built-in to speakers fuelled the growth of smart home devices which can be controlled via voice, Canalys said. Unlike compatible-only devices, smartphones, smart speakers, mobile PCs, smartwatches and connected cars have built-in smart assistants that can carry out user commands.

The leading smart assistants in China are Xiaodu, Tmall Genie and XiaoAI.