Amazon Echo owners are more likely to be iPhone and iPad fans, while owners of the Google Home smart speaker are, unsurprisingly, heavy users of Android smartphones and tablets, according to a new study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
Surveying 300 U.S. owners of Amazon Echo or Google Home devices, CIRP found that 55 percent of Echo owners have an iPhone, while 77 percent of Google Home owners have an Android smartphone. The study shows that Apple grabs a much bigger share of Echo owners than it does the overall smartphone market.
“iPhones accounted for less than one-third of phone activations at the same time that over half of Echo
owners report having an iPhone,” said Josh Lowitz, partner and co-founder of CIRP. “In contrast, among Home owners, over three-quarters report having an Android phone, which is roughly consistent with the overall share of
Android phones in the marketplace.”
This dynamic is sure to change when Apple’s $349 HomePod hits the streets in December. The Google Home figures show that Android users want to stay in their ecosystem when it comes to smart speakers, and it’s possible that Apple customers will do the same.
Amazon doesn’t have a smartphone operating system to combine with the Echo, but the retail giant has made up for it by putting its digital brain Alexa into a variety of different products. Additionally, Alexa is leading the way in terms of things she can do, with more than 25,000 voice activated skills.
Though Android users don’t stray far from home, Echo owners aren’t so loyal. Only 25 percent of Echo users have an Amazon Fire tablet, versus 49 percent with an iPad and about 30 percent with an Android-powered tablet. About 63 percent of Google Home owners surveyed have an Android tablet, the study found.
Amazon has the clear lead in the smart speaker market at the moment, with a 76 percent marketshare, according to another CIRP study. CIRP also estimates 15 million Amazon Echo units have sold across the U.S., which is up from 10.7 million in March and 5.1 million this past November,
Both Amazon and Google released a new slate of smart speakers, and other products powered by their respective digital assistants. Google Home unveiled two new speakers this week: the $49 Google Home Mini and the $399 Google Home Max, which compete with Amazon’s pint-sized Echo Dot and Apple’s HomePod, respectively. Amazon’s new releases did not include a significantly more powerful speaker, like the Google Home Max or the HomePod, but did have a redesigned Echo, a speaker with a smart home hub built in and several other interesting gadgets.
