HomePod shows strong first-day sales compared to other smart speakers

Apple’s HomePod sales look off to strong start, at least when compared to other smart speakers. NPD is out with a new report comparing the HomePod’s first day sales to others including the Google Home Max and Sonos One.

NPD says that, while they don’t have any specific numbers on pre-orders, the HomePod’s were higher “than all other smart speaker first day pre-orders,” other than Amazon’s diminutive Echo Dot.

Many, including myself, had wondered how Apple’s HomePod sales were going as supply seemed to easily keep up with demand through the launch. This could have been a sign of Apple nailing the demand, or underwhelming sales.

The research group also notes the extensive growth expected this year for Bluetooth headphones and wireless speakers. They expect to see double-digit growth by years end.

Apple has already had some great success in this realm, as NPD notes AirPods were the top-selling headphones of 2017, and beats and Apple together make up the “top-selling headphone brand of 2017”.

Further, if taken together, Beats and Apple were the top-selling headphone brand of 2017, accounting for 44 percent of all dollar sales.

Now that Apple has started really investing in audio, not just with Beats but the AirPods and HomePod, we should see their “Other Products” category really spike. This is the category where they record sales of the AirPods and HomePod, along with Apple TV, Apple Watch, and other accessories.

After reporting their Q1 earnings recently, the Other Products category was already 36 percent up on Q1 2017. I’m very interested to see where that ends up later this year.

We’ve also heard rumblings lately of refreshed AirPods, as well as new over-the-ear headphones on the horizon. It appears that Apple has really started to build a solid audio business.

What do you think of Apple’s new focus on audio? Do you love your AirPods or HomePod? Let us know below.