We did not see a hardware upgrade to the HomePod this year, but Apple did give it a hefty software upgrade yesterday. The new HomePod software features the ability to ping devices (even devices with Family Sharing) via Find My iPhone, make and receive phone calls, and set multiple timers.
However, how does it compete against its other smart speaker brethren? Today, a report out from CIRP details just that.
According to the report, Apple’s HomePod currently has a 6% market share. That works out to only 2% of Apple customers owning a HomePod. The industry itself has moved towards the smaller, cheaper variants from both Google and Amazon. The Echo Dot accounted for more than half of the total installed base of Amazon Echo, and Home mini accounted for 40% of Google Home’s installed base.
Naturally, both Google and Amazon are outselling Apple’s premium smart speaker. And they both are now encouraging customers to purchase more than one smart speaker. In fact, more than one-third of non-Apple branded smart speaker owners own more than one unit.
Apple’s other in-home device is Apple TV. Interestingly, it places third when looking at customers who live within Apple’s ecosystem, getting outlet by Amazon Fire TV, and Roku.
It’ll be interesting to see if Apple will continue to grow in the smart speaker market with its current first-generation HomePod. Or if the company plans on doing a hardware upgrade relatively soon to maybe slice its price.
Do you own a HomePod? If so, are you liking it? Let us know in the comments below!
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