Google Home Vs. Amazon Echo: Sales Of Google Speaker Are Catching Up

Amazon announced after the holidays that it had a great season with its Echo devices, but a new report shows the Google Home is catching up.

Last month, Amazon said it sold tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices worldwide, selling millions of Echo Dots alone. The Echo Dot, which currently costs $49.99, was the top-selling gadget across all categories on Amazon during the 2017 holiday season.

A report released on Friday by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners shows the Google Home had a good holiday too. The report says U.S. customers purchased 31 million Echo units and 14 million Google Home devices in Q4 2017. Although the Amazon numbers double Google Home figures, the report shows sales of the latter device spiked. During the past holiday season, the Google Home took 40 percent of sales, the CIRP estimates.

Like Amazon, Google has also touted its Google Home sales. The company announced earlier this month that it sold tens of millions of Google devices for the home over the course of last year. Google said it sold more than one Google Home gadget every second since the Google Home Mini was released last October.

The report says the price cuts on the speakers during the holiday season helped Amazon and Google sell more units.

“Home automation devices were the star of the holiday shopping season in 2017,” said CIRP co-founder Josh Lowitz in a released statement. “In less than a year, the installed base more than doubled, as Amazon and Google brought new models to the US market quickly, and aggressively promoted and discounted these products.”

Lowitz added: “Both Amazon and Google have emphasized lower-priced models. “This allows consumers to try the new devices, and also buy multiples for multiple rooms.”

How The Google Home And Amazon Echo Compare

Google Home Vs. Amazon Echo: Price

The Google Home and Amazon Echo devices are much cheaper than the latest $349 HomePod. The Google Home is priced at $129, while the second generation Amazon Echo costs $99. Google also offers the Google Home Mini for $49, the same price as the Echo Dot. Amazon also sells other more expensive models: the Echo Plus, Echo Show and the Echo Look (invitation only).

Google Home Vs. Amazon Echo: Features and Sound

The Google Home runs on Google Assistant. Users can ask the speaker questions, control and play music, control smart home products and get help with reminders, timers and schedules. The Google Home supports voice calls and voice shopping. The speaker also comes with Voice Match. The feature personalizes Google Assistant information based on which person in the household. The device includes a high excursion speaker with a 2-inch driver and dual 2-inch passive radiators.

The Amazon Echo family is powered by Alexa. Users can control music, play games, voice shop, control smart home appliances and get news, weather and traffic updates. There are tens of thousands of Alexa skills users can use, and more added over time. The device also works well for Prime members, since the device can stream from the Prime Music library and can play audiobooks. The speaker also supports messaging and voice calls.

The Echo features sound powered by Dolby and can fill the environment with 360-degree omnidirectional audio. The device has seven microphones, a 2.5-inch woofer and 0.6-inch tweeter. The Echo can also detect questions in noisy rooms.

Both the Google Home and Amazon Echo support multi-room playing.

Google Home Vs. Amazon Echo: Design

The Google Home is available in White and Slate colors. The device is 6.2-inches tall and weighs 1.05 lbs. The Echo comes in six colors: Charcoal, Heather Gray, Oak, Sandstone, Silver and Walnut. The speaker is 5.9-inches tall and weighs 29 ounces.