Voice Assistant Use Expected to Triple to 8 Billion by 2023
A new Juniper Research forecast predicts global voice assistant usage will surge from 2.5 billion to 8 billion by 2023. Smart TVs represent the fastest-growing category for this technology, outpacing both smart speakers and wearables.
A new forecast from Juniper Research reveals that the use of voice assistants is set to triple over the next few years, reaching 8 billion devices by 2023. This number is a massive increase from the 2.5 billion assistants in use at the end of 2018. Currently, the majority of these digital helpers live on smartphones, with Google Assistant and Siri leading the way for Android and iOS users.
While smart speakers like Amazon's Echo remain highly popular, the report indicates that smart TVs actually represent the fastest-growing category for voice technology. Juniper expects the smart TV voice assistant category to grow by 121.3 percent over the next five years, significantly outpacing the 41.3 percent growth rate of smart speakers. Wearables also show strong potential in this space with an expected growth rate of 40.2 percent.
The study also highlights a booming voice commerce sector, which is projected to exceed $80 billion annually by 2023. However, this figure heavily includes digital purchases and money transfers rather than traditional physical goods, as consumers currently lack seamless cross-platform experiences. Additionally, Juniper warns that the rising popularity of multi-platform digital assistants will negatively impact standalone mobile apps built by independent developers.