Apple’s HomePod smart speaker is getting smarter, according to a new report. Loup Ventures analysts found that Siri on the HomePod answered 74.6% of their 800 questions correctly, misunderstanding just 3. However, it did trail Google Assistant on the Google Home in a number of categories.
Google Home on Top
Analysts Gene Munster and Will Thompson asked various smart speakers and home assistants a number of questions. These were split over 5 categories – local information (local), purchasing items (commerce), navigation, factual information (information), and commands such as reminders (command).
Google Assistant on the Google Home came out on top in four of the five categories – local, commerce, navigation and information. Apple’s Siri on the HomePod came out on top in the command category. The analysts said:
“HomePod’s lead in this category may come from the fact that the HomePod will pass on full SiriKit requests like those regarding messaging, lists, and basically anything other than music to the iOS device paired to the speaker. Siri on iPhone has deep integration with email, calendar, messaging, and other areas of focus in our Command category. Our question set also contains a fair amount of music-related queries, which HomePod specializes in.”
The analysts also commented that it was “important to note that HomePod’s underperformance in many areas is due to the fact that Siri’s ability is limited on HomePod as compared to your iPhone.”
Apple Smart Speaker Getting Smarter
Overall, Siri on the HomePod got 74.6% of the questions right. It misunderstood 3 questions. Google Assistant on the Google Home answered 87.9% of questions correctly and understood all the questions. Alex on the Amazon Echo scored 72.5% and misunderstood 8 questions. Cortana scored 63.4% and misunderstood 5 questions.
The Home Pod’s score has improved since the venture capital firm last tested the device. In December 2017 it got 52.3 of questions right (via MacRumors).