Apple is "seriously absent" from the U.S. smart speaker market

     Sina Digital News reported on the morning of August 5 that according to data collected by the Consumer Research Agency (CIRP), Apple is still "absent" in the US smart speaker market, while Amazon and Google continue to dominate.

　　Amazon has been the dominant company in the smart speaker market since 2017, with more than two-thirds of smart speakers in U.S. households being owned by an Amazon device. Google has about a quarter of all smart speaker devices, while Apple and Facebook account for a small portion of the remaining market.

　　Josh Lowitz, CIRP partner and co-founder, said that despite the installed base of smart speakers increasing by more than 25 million units last year, totaling 126 million units, Apple has still "failed to make much meaningful progress." According to Lowitz, Apple's initial HomePod strategy was to "compete with a single high-priced model against a low-priced entry-level device" which made it difficult for Apple to gain a significant share of sales, which allowed other brands to grow faster, control and build consumer trust.

　　Last year, Apple discontinued the original HomePod and launched the HomePod mini, a small smart speaker that costs just $99. Despite the launch of the HomePod mini, Apple's market share has barely budged in 2020 and 2021, according to CIRP data.

　　CIRP estimates that more than 20 million U.S. households have more than one Amazon Echo device, while about 8 million U.S. households have multiple Google Home devices, meaning that 43% of Amazon Echo users and 38% of Google Home users have more than one smart speaker. So in contrast, only 2 million households have more than one HomePod.

　　Apple is rumored to be rethinking its smart home strategy, canceling the 2022 refresh model and launching new HomePod models, including one with a screen and a camera for FaceTime calls, and one that integrates with Apple TV.

　　CIRP's latest data is based on a survey of 500 U.S. users of Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple ‌HomePod‌ between July 1 and July 8, 2021, who each owned one of the devices.