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Robot Vacuum Shipment Growth Nears 30% for Second Straight Quarter After Acceleration

Global shipments reached 7.885 million units in the second quarter, keeping year-over-year growth near 30% after the pace picked up sharply at the start of 2026.

September 24, 2026 by Artem

BEIJING — Global robot vacuum shipment growth remained near 30% year over year for a second consecutive quarter in 2026, after accelerating sharply from the final three months of last year, according to figures from International Data Corporation.

Shipments reached 7.885 million units in the second quarter, compared with 6.17 million a year earlier, according to IDC’s quarterly report (Chinese-language source). That represents growth of about 27.8% based on IDC's published shipment totals. Global sales value reached $3.89 billion.

The pace was similar in the first quarter. IDC reported 6.563 million robot vacuums shipped globally, up 29.4% year over year. That followed slower growth at the end of 2025, which totaled about 13% in October-December 2025, according to calculations of ROBOT24.com based on IDC’s data.
Growth was uneven during 2025 showing increases of 11.9% in the first quarter, 20.5% in the second and 22.9% in the third before the rate slowed in the final quarter. The first two quarters of 2026 therefore represent a clear acceleration from late 2025 rather than a continuation of steadily increasing quarterly growth.

Europe grew considerably faster than the global market. Robot vacuum shipments in the region rose 64% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, according to IDC, following an 81.4% increase to 2.318 million units in the first quarter.

The market is also concentrated among a small group of manufacturers. IDC said the five largest suppliers accounted for 75% of global robot vacuum shipments and 82% of sales value in the second quarter. Chinese manufacturers occupied all five leading positions during the first three quarters of 2025, with Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, Xiaomi and Narwal leading the market.

Robot vacuums remain the largest segment of the broader household cleaning robot market. IDC reported 11.205 million household cleaning robots shipped globally in the second quarter, up 21.5% year over year. The category also includes robotic lawn mowers, window cleaners and pool-cleaning robots.