Google appears to be losing some steam in the smart speaker market.

The company's market share took a dip in the second quarter; it's now the third largest smart speaker vendor in the world, a 20 percent year-over-year drop, according to data from research firm Canalys. It shipped 4.3 million devices in Q2, down from 5.4 million a year earlier.

Amazon remains the top dog; its smart home device lineup, which includes smart speakers and smart displays, posted a 61.1 percent year-over-year growth in shipments, jumping from 4.1 million shipped in Q218 to 6.6 million in Q219.

Edging out Google to nab second place was China's Baidu with 4.5 million devices sold, a growth of 3,700 percent year-over-year thanks to its new Xiaodu devices; it sold less than a million during the same time period last year. Rounding out the top five were Alibaba and Xiaomi.

Comparing the Chinese firms to Google and Amazon might not be helpful, however, as Baidu and Google, for example, "operate in mutually exclusive markets," Canalys says. Overall, the US market dipped 2.4 percent as Google and Amazon tried to grow their businesses outside the US.

Google's diminished shipment numbers come as the company has been promoting smart display products under the Nest brand. This includes the Google Nest Hub, which comes with the Google Assistant and can also let you remotely control your Nest cameras.

However, Canalys data indicates the company needs to put out a successor to the original Google Home and Google Home Mini smart speakers to keep shipments up. The Home Mini only goes for $29, whereas the Google Nest Hub costs $99.

"Google urgently requires a revamped non-display smart speaker portfolio to rekindle consumer interest, as well as a robust marketing strategy to build its Nest branding outside of the US," says Canalys Analyst Jason Low.

In the US market, Google still maintains a strong presence as the second largest smart speaker vendor with a 32 percent share; Amazon, meanwhile, remains the leader with a 54 percent share. In distant third is Apple with a 3.9 percent share.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with smart speaker market share figures for the US.