4 Ways the Amazon Echo Beats Apple’s HomePod

Apple is set to release an all-new smart speaker, called HomePod, that will compete directly with the Amazon Echo and other smart speakers in the market. While HomePod focuses on providing superior sound quality, it also has the ability to listen and reply back to your questions by taking advantage of Siri's artificial intelligence. It can also play Apple Music as well as control your smart home devices.
Amazon's Echo has plenty of features too, that range from playing music from a number of music streaming services, to reading out the current weather, and can even play games. Although Amazon Echo doesn't have great sound quality, which is the area where the HomePod shines, there are still a number of other factors that put it above Apple's HomePod.
Let's take a look at the 4 areas where the Amazon Echo beats the Apple HomePod.
4 Price
The Amazon Echo is an awesome smart speaker, and so will be the Apple HomePod when it's finally released; but when it comes to deciding which device to go with, price is going to play a major role. Apple's HomePod is a hybrid smart speaker, with features which mimic the Amazon Echo, but also will feature high-quality speaker components like Sonos, and its price reflects those qualities. The Amazon Echo will cost you about $180, whereas Apple HomePod will be priced at $350, which is almost double that of Echo's price despite offering similar features.
Here's a simple price comparison between the most popular smart speakers in the market:
- Amazon Echo Dot: $50
- Google Home: $130
- Amazon Tap: $130
- Amazon Echo: $180
- Sonos Play 1: $200
- Amazon Echo Show: $230
- Sonos Play 3: $300
- Apple HomePod:Â $350
- Sonos Play 5: $500
Compared to the rest of the smart speakers listed above, HomePod has a hefty price tag which can be a setback for customers who are willing to buy it. However, since the HomePod will have superior sound quality in comparison to the Amazon Echo, it's expected to sell well.
3 Flexibility
As is always the case with Apple products, you don't have much flexibility. If you already use the services provided by Apple, then you're going to love HomePod. If not, then you'll have a difficult time with it.
HomePod can play songs from Apple Music only, whereas Amazon Echo can play songs from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and many other music streaming services. Apple wants the HomePod to have the best sound quality when compared to other smart speakers, but it doesn't support third-party music streaming services, so there's really no point in purchasing the device unless Apple Music is your main music library.
Another example is compatibility with smart home products. HomePod is only compatible with products that work with HomeKit, so you won't be able to control devices that work with other platforms.
2 Third-Party Developer Support
One of the things that we love the most about Amazon's Alexa is that developers can create something called "Skills". These allow the Amazon Echo to do additional things such as play games, read out the famous movie quotes, track your food, and much more. Currently, there is a growing list of 15,000 skills which users can install on their Amazon Echo.
When it comes to Apple's HomePod, there's no such thing. As of yet, Apple isn't allowing developers to build apps for HomePod or extend its functionality, but I expect that this will be made possible soon after HomePod is released to customers.
1 Smart Home Product Compatibility
And coming to our last point, one of the major drawbacks of Apple's HomePod is the lack of support for other platforms of home automation.
HomePod allows you to control only the smart home products that are compatible with HomeKit, so if you have any other products that work on a different platform, then you cannot control it with HomePod. On the other hand, Amazon Echo has an extensive list of compatible products.
Since the HomePod hasn't launched yet, we can't judge officially which device is the best smart speaker, but one thing is certain; if you already own a number of Apple products, than the HomePod will be a better choice for you. However, if you're looking for a smart speaker with a competitive price point and a lot of customization options, then the Amazon Echo will be the best option for you.