(Yicai) Sept. 20 -- China’s Roborock Technology overtook US firm iRobot as the world’s largest robot vacuum maker by shipments in the second quarter of the year.

Roborock’s shipments rose 8 percent in the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier, while iRobot’s fell 6 percent, according to an International Data Corporation report released yesterday. The Beijing-based firm also led by vacuum cleaner business revenue.

Nine of the world’s 10 biggest robot sweeper makers were Chinese companies in the quarter, according to the IDC report. Ecovacs ranked third, followed by Xiaomi, Dreame, Narwal, Anker Innovations, SharkNinja, Lefant, and ILife Robot.

The global market for robot vacuum cleaners is growing rapidly. Shipments jumped nearly 16 percent to more than 5.1 million units in the three months, the report said. In the first half, the figure exceeded 9.6 million units, Yicai calculated using IDC data.

The pace of new product releases accelerated in the first half thanks to functionality upgrades, with the proportion of high-end products to overall shipments surging, driving the average unit price up to about USD485 in the the second quarter, IDC noted.

Competition will mainly center on premium products this half, with the introduction of artificial intelligence  capabilities their accelerated deployment expected to intensify competition, said Zhao Siquan, senior analyst at IDC China. The rising average price will also put more pressure on consumer purchasing power, she added.

Chinese makers are accelerating their overseas expansions, especially in developed markets where their products have significant performance advantages, IDC added. North America and Europe will remain key battlegrounds for Chinese firms in the second half, Zhao predicted.

Fast innovation and tougher competition are the main reasons for expanding abroad, Zhou Nan, secretary-general of the household appliances section of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, told Yicai.

Global vacuum cleaner sales rose 13 percent in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier, with robot vacuum cleaners accounting for about 26 percent of the total. Robot vacuums are taking an ever larger market share, driven by consumer interest in convenience, health, and technological innovations, said Lu Yan, managing director of the Chinese arm of German market research firm GfK.

Editor: Futura Costaglione