In the past year, smart speakers have become one of the most关注的 categories in consumer audio products, and they are currently in a significant growth phase, with their functions and applications rapidly expanding and improving.
Smart speakers are quickly becoming popular, with Qualcomm’s “2019 Usage Survey Report” showing that 35% of global consumers own a smart speaker or smart soundbar, while more consumers plan to purchase one.Additionally, what other discoveries do we have about smart speakers? The survey report has provided us with insights.
Primary Uses of Smart Speakers
What is your primary use for smart speakers?Despite the rich features of smart speakers, music remains one of the main usage scenarios.Surveys show that information retrieval (51%) and music streaming (50%) are the two primary uses of smart speakers.However, compared to 2018, the usage rate of home control features has remained stable, while gaming has become an important use for 30% of smart speaker users.
As gaming rises to become an important usage scenario for smart speakers, the characteristic of low latency has also become increasingly important, with over two-thirds (67%) of soundbar buyers believing that the ability to smoothly stream audio to other audio devices without delay is very important.
Voice Assistants Make Life More Convenient
Information retrieval has replaced music streaming as the primary use of smart speakers.This indicates that users can now interact with speakers more easily through voice assistants.66% of consumers believe that connecting with smart speakers, home control centers, and other electronic devices through voice or natural language makes life more convenient.In China, this percentage is as high as 85%.
The majority of users are satisfied with the voice UI performance of smart speakers, but only about 20% of users report being “very satisfied.”This indicates that there is still room for improvement in voice wake-up, responsiveness, and accuracy.
Sound Quality is More Important than Price
For smart speaker buyers, sound quality is far more important than price.Although early smart speakers rarely considered this as a primary feature, 64% of buyers stated that sound quality is important to their purchasing decision, while only 54% of buyers indicated that price is important compared to sound quality.
In the decision-making process for purchasing smart speakers, respondents believe that sound quality, battery life, loud playback, and even design are more important than support for voice assistants.This indicates that voice is increasingly being regarded as a “default” feature of smart speakers.
This year’s survey shows that smart speakers supporting excellent sound quality, longer battery life, and local voice processing privacy features have become important expectations for consumers.
Although people have just begun to explore the various possibilities of voice-controlled speakers, enhancing the processing power, connectivity, and privacy of processors is crucial to meet the ever-changing user expectations.
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