Smartphone users seem to be taking sides in the Amazon vs. Google smart speaker race.
New analysis from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) indicates that in the U.S., Amazon Echo owners prefer Apple iPhone and iPad mobile devices, while Google Home owners prefer Android smartphones and tablets.
Among smart speaker owners, 55 percent of Echo users have an iPhone, while 77 percent of Google Home users have an Android smartphone.
Echo owners tend to use iPhones relative to iPhone’s share of the overall U.S. marketplace, said Josh Lowitz, founder of CIRP. “iPhones accounted for less than one-third of phone activations at the same time that over half of Echo owners report having an iPhone. In contrast, among Google Home owners, over three-quarters report having an Android phone, which is roughly consistent with the overall share of Android phones in the marketplace.”
Meantime, Amazon Echo continues to invade Apple’s ecosystem. Among Echo and Google Home owners, 49 percent of Echo owners have an iPad, while 63 percent of Home owners have an Android tablet, and 25 percent of Echo owners have an Amazon Fire tablet.
“Similar to smartphone ownership, Echo owners tend to have iPads, while Home owners tend toward Android tablets,” said Mike Levin, partner and co-founder of CIRP. “Half of Echo owners have an iPad, compared to less than one-third Android tablets and one quarter Fire tablets. Yet almost two-thirds of Home owners also have an Android tablet, almost twice as many as have an iPad, and far more own a Fire tablet.”
“Google appears to have sold Home to faithful Android users, while Amazon has sold Echo to a broader mix of users, including iOS, Android and Fire owners, with a clear presence among iPhone and iPad owners,” continued Lowitz. “It’s still early. Even though Amazon has sold 15 million Echo devices, Apple has an installed base of over 140 million iPhones in the U.S, so Echo hasn’t penetrated deeply into the iPhone ownership group. Yet this initial data suggests that Amazon has gained a meaningful foothold among Apple’s U.S. customer base.”
CIRP based its findings on its survey of 300 U.S. owners of Amazon Echo or Google Home, conducted July 1-27.
