China’s Internet giants fight for dominance in smart speakers as they target half a billion users not yet online

Among dozens of smart speaker vendors that have emerged in China, Baidu currently leads the pack with 3.3 million units shipped in the first quarter.

Ruan Long works as an Internet professional in Beijing but even he was surprised at some of the unexpected uses of the smart speaker he recently brought home.

For one, his second child, now an eighteen-month-old toddler, has already been interacting with the gadget, though he is unable to recite the full names of songs, like his grandparents can. “At first, the smart speaker ignored him most of the time, as he would mumble the wake-up word ‘Xiaodu’ as ‘Aodu’,” he said.