Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HomePod Holds Estimated 70% Share of Growing $200+ Smart Speaker Market

tongxinshe said:
till the $1000+ slice becomes the fully ignorable piece of the whole SmartPhone market, i.e. less than 0.1%. And, that day will come very very soon, before any analyzer that FOCUS ONLY ON financial effects could wake up to it.
Click to expand...
What are you talking about? Flagships are increasing in price from Apple, to Samsung, to Google. Even one plus pricing is way up from the first few.

People are willing to pay $1000+ for the most important device in their lives, particularly when they last 3 years and they can be leased or bought on affordable, interest free monthly payments.

No data shows that day is coming anytime soon, which is why the iPhone X was the most popular iPhone since release.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MacsRuleOthersDrool and the johnmc
One small tidbit hasn’t been mentioned yet: If I remember reviews correctly, HomePod is the only device that you can talk to in a normal voice, while music is playing (loudly). For other speakers you have to raise your voice to be heard by the smart speaker over the music.

Also, the HomePod is very Apple-like in that you can simply put it somewhere and it automatically calibrates itself, without requiring you to walk around with your smartphone, recording beeping calibration sounds. Which has to be redone each time you move the speaker for that party or gaming evening with friends.

When it comes to ease of use, the competitors seem less capable than the HomePod. And that’s Apple’s secret sauce, which makes me (and others) willing to pay a premium for a good product, even if it’s not best-in-class or not having the best price/performance ratio in some areas.

Disclaimer: Even though I don’t own a HomePod yet, I plan to get a smart speaker in the coming weeks. I think it’s unlikely for me to buy a competitor product, for the reasons mentioned above and the increased privacy (whether true or only perceived) of the HomePod.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ntombi, ActionableMango and the johnmc
TroyBoy30 said:
theres a $200+ market?
Click to expand...

Well, yes, there is a $200+ Smart Speaker market segment, has been for a while, and you obviously did not know. And, neither did quite a few readers here mocking this thread (and Apple)!

There are also "smart speakers" that cost about $40.
 
What a BS!!!! HomePod holds 100% of Apple's smart speaker market. I have Sonos with Alexa and it works flawlessly. I have no need for another paper weight from Apple.
 
Well this is Apple’s business strategy. They don’t have to sell lots of units but can still take most of the profits of their devices are priced higher.
 
Except, the market it is competing against is the Sonos One, which is sub-$200. The Sonos 3 isn’t even being made anymore. This is pure spin to make Apple look good.

PickUrPoison said:
Google Max is $399 and there are lots above $200, including Sonos.

Apple doesn’t attempt to compete with the smart microphone products like the $50 google and amazon products, just like they don’t play in the cheap phone market—they’re perfectly happy for Android to own 100% of that.

HomePod is a great sounding speaker, and even though it has low margins Apple’s fine with that, since it sells $100/year Apple Music subscriptions.
Click to expand...
 
Ok, so which devices are in the „$200+ Smart Speaker Market“? I know probably three of them. Apple HomePod, Google Home Max and SONOS Beam.

And by the way i have a mixed setup in my House with a Homepod in the office, two SONOS One in the Kitchen, one SONOS PLAY:5 (and Echo Dot) in the Living room and AirportExpress with external speaker in the master bedroom. It is maybe not that elegant, but the devices work together, so there really is no need for the turf war that is going on here.
 
donster28 said:
The HomePod is the best sounding smart speaker I've ever owned...period.
Click to expand...
It’s certainly better than the echo, echo dot and google home mini which I have. I’ve never used a google home max but I don’t think I’d like it more than my HomePods because all the reviews I’ve heard say it’s bass heavy.
[doublepost=1537388301][/doublepost]
The Game 161 said:
That's good wasn't aware you could answer like that...
Click to expand...
I had no idea how to do it so I just tried it and it worked!
[doublepost=1537388425][/doublepost]
Neodym said:
One small tidbit hasn’t been mentioned yet: If I remember reviews correctly, HomePod is the only device that you can talk to in a normal voice, while music is playing (loudly). For other speakers you have to raise your voice to be heard by the smart speaker over the music.

Also, the HomePod is very Apple-like in that you can simply put it somewhere and it automatically calibrates itself, without requiring you to walk around with your smartphone, recording beeping calibration sounds. Which has to be redone each time you move the speaker for that party or gaming evening with friends.

When it comes to ease of use, the competitors seem less capable than the HomePod. And that’s Apple’s secret sauce, which makes me (and others) willing to pay a premium for a good product, even if it’s not best-in-class or not having the best price/performance ratio in some areas.

Disclaimer: Even though I don’t own a HomePod yet, I plan to get a smart speaker in the coming weeks. I think it’s unlikely for me to buy a competitor product, for the reasons mentioned above and the increased privacy (whether true or only perceived) of the HomePod.
Click to expand...
The echo and the google home have more features than the HomePod. In terms of ease of use I’d say the google home is easier to use because it’s more conversational so it can understand what your asking for even if you phrase it in different ways.

The HomePod wins on sound quality and is better for someone who is within the Apple ecosystem.
[doublepost=1537388777][/doublepost]
dannyyankou said:
Kidding aside, I don’t think Apple’s trying to compete with the Echo’s of the world. They’re focusing on sound first, and Amazon doesn’t necessarily have the best speakers.

But Apple doesn’t have the best AI. I wonder if you can use Siri shortcuts with the HomePod, that might make it worth it.
Click to expand...
Haven’t been able to get any of my Siri shortcuts to work with it yet.
[doublepost=1537388878][/doublepost]
DotCom2 said:
I'll bet my 2 Sonos paired as Stereo beat your 1 HomePod and let's not even talk about the price comparison of such.
Click to expand...
I have 2 HomePods paired as stereo...
 
I hear Apple has now captured all 100% of the marketshare in the $348-$350 smart speaker market! Hooray!!!

This kind of story celebrates premium price. Soon we'll be spinning "...but who makes the most profitable smart speaker?" like we consumers win some prize with that.

Note that neither comment is really a bash at HP or Apple- just poking at the conditions of the story to make Apple look especially good... as if Apple needs the help.

Furthermore, market share stories are mostly something good for shareholders. Whether Apple is ranked #1 or something less than #1 in market share, profitability, record revenues, etc- NONE OF THAT does a thing for us individual consumers. For example, my <any Apple product> doesn't work one bit better if Apple reaches a monopoly of a market... or makes more profit than all other companies combined... or basically sucks up every available dollar in the wild. In fact, it works just the same.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: AppleScruff1
Where is the Amazon Show and Spot? They are speakers too and VERY popular.
 
donster28 said:
The HomePod is the best sounding smart speaker I've ever owned...period.
Click to expand...

This raises a question I had never considered. When emphasizing the end of a sentence by saying period do you still need to include punctuation? If you were exclaiming it, an exclamation point would seem logical, but perhaps you would only use capital letters for the word period. Capitals for exclaim, lowercase for declare, but that doesn’t mean a punctuation of period is unneeded. What if it was a question, would we need to use italics? One thing is for sure, this is far more interesting than the HomePod.
[doublepost=1537394552][/doublepost]
Shanghaichica said:
I made and received a call on there today. My phone was ringing I had no idea how to answer it so I just said hey Siri answer and it did.
Click to expand...

It’s been so long since I’ve used my iPhone as a way to speak to other humans with my voice. Can I use Siri to answer calls on my phone?
 
4jasontv said:
This raises a question I had never considered. When emphasizing the end of a sentence by saying period do you still need to include punctuation? If you were exclaiming it, an exclamation point would seem logical, but perhaps you would only use capital letters for the word period. Capitals for exclaim, lowercase for declare, but that doesn’t mean a punctuation of period is unneeded. What if it was a question, would we need to use italics? One thing is for sure, this is far more interesting than the HomePod.
[doublepost=1537394552][/doublepost]

It’s been so long since I’ve used my iPhone as a way to speak to other humans with my voice. Can I use Siri to answer calls on my phone?
Click to expand...

Thank you professor for giving me a grammar lesson. I will surely remember that the next time.
 
urnotl33t said:
Oh they will. Just like the first 2 iPhones were only those two iPhones. Then the iPhone 3GS, and suddenly you had a choice between "iPhone 3GS and the now-a-bit-reduced-but-still-very-useful iPhone 3G". Same for the iPod at its time. They'll plant here, then (funny enough) "trickle down". They'll ooze their way into the lower portions of the higher end and lay waste to the profits.

Did you see the ridiculous article about "Get an Amazon Fire for $39 today!" ? Ugh... no money to be had in that. That's just Amazon trying to capture any sales before the next iPad comes out in October. Same will be happening in the speaker market.

Apple knows they have (a LOT of) work to do, tho. We all know it. First 2 iPhones didn't record video; not until the iPhone 3GS. But at the time, other vendor phones were doing video (IIRC, the Windows stuff from Sony Ericsson did; yeah, big flashback!). Same equivalence for the HomePod. We already saw it with AirPlay 2 and stereo support. They're figuring it out; albeit slowly, perhaps too slowly. Same for the first iPhone at a wallet-damaging $599 until they dropped the price and later did revenue-sharing with AT&T, or the first iPad at $499. They may be slow, but they'll get it (cf. Verizon iPhone 4 and later the right-sized iPhone 5).

In three years, we all will be having a very different conversation. (granted, I do hope Apple figures it out by then and really gets their **** together; they indeed are way behind. "Go team, go!" haha)
Click to expand...
Fair enough, I'm sure they'll capture more of the market later on.
 
Homepod is mono so really it’s almost $700.00. So it should be compared to $700.00 dollar speakers. Unless my recordings are in mono I listen to most of my music in stereo (and that’s mono out of two speakers).
 
Among the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Fact is: hardly anyone buys 300+ Dollar speakers. The comparison with Sonos is odd too - as the only one supporting Alexa is the Sonos One and that's not one of their premium speakers. The new smart speaker enabled offerings of Sonos haven't been released yet.

The statistics will look dramatically different in 2-3 months as Amazon is about the enter the premium segment (see leaked subwoofer etc.).

I like my HomePods - they sound fine, but Siri is still as dumb as ever, it's really embarrassing. Plus Apple is far behind the competitors when it comes to essential features (like multi-user support, device support etc.)
[doublepost=1537424991][/doublepost]
Neodym said:
One small tidbit hasn’t been mentioned yet: If I remember reviews correctly, HomePod is the only device that you can talk to in a normal voice, while music is playing (loudly). For other speakers you have to raise your voice to be heard by the smart speaker over the music.
Click to expand...

it's slightly better than the Echos, but only minimally so. The only time I notice is when I'm in the Sauna and shout to skip to the next song. This never worked with my Echo but it does with the HomePod (mind you, I still have to shout very loudly to get that to work). In normal use scenarios, I never have to shout or raise my voice at either one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back