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Will China embrace Apple’s HomePod?

More Chinese shoppers are buying smart speakers, but they seem to prefer cheaper ones

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The HomePod is scheduled to debut in China at around US$400 early next year. (Picture: Apple)
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

About a year after Apple first released the HomePod in the US, the Siri-enabled wireless speaker is finally set to go on sale in China early next year.

While the device will support both Mandarin and Cantonese, the big question for Apple is whether that's enough to appeal to consumers in one of its most important markets

China, with an internet user base that is more than twice the size of the entire US population, has been slow to adopt smart speakers, compared with the US.

About 350,000 smart speakers were sold in the country last year, according to data from the China Internet Report, co-authored by Abacus, the South China Morning Post, and 500 Startups. In contrast, US shipment totaled 25 million units in the same period.

Chinese sales of smart speakers has picked up this year, but cost remains the primary concern for consumers. Low-priced smart speakers from Alibaba and Xiaomi were the top sellers in China during the third quarter, according to Canalys Research. Alibaba’s Tmall Genie X1 and Xiaomi’s Mi AI speaker currently sell for only US$43 in China.

(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.)

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