Google released its two new smart speakers into an already crowded market
Google released two new smart speakers at its big hardware event on Wednesday, causing the already full space to get a bit more crowded. Tech heavyweights have more or less been playing catch-up with each other since Amazon first released the Echo in 2014. As we can see in this chart from Statista, the Google Home Mini directly competes with the Amazon Echo Dot on the low end of the price spectrum, and the Google Home Max against the Apple HomePod at the very top.
Smart speakers have become increasingly popular over the past few years as technology advances and new devices enter the market. According to an analysis by Adobe Digital Insights (ADI), smart speaker sales in the US rose 39% year over year outside of the holiday season. Despite the increased adoption, the same report found that 49% of US consumers still don't use any type of voice assistant.
