HomePod
Incredible sound, great connectivity
Despite all the little marks against it, and its wallet–emptying price, HomePod is our choice for the best smart assistant speaker. We’ve selected it based on the hardware itself, not on the specific assistant attached. But that HomePod — which sounds brilliant and is monumentally flexible — also gives you such unparalleled access to your trusted Apple devices, and acts as a Home Hub to make HomeKit so much more capable, is great.
Amazon is, quite clearly, all–in with its commitment to smart kit, and the second–generation Echo Plus looks to beat even the excellent first–gen model — we’re looking forward to testing it. Echo Plus is a great smart speaker, in the midst of a great ecosystem. The same can be said for Google’s Home range. But we’d like to see both of those rivals grow a little more in terms of functionality. Where Amazon throws up a brand new model to enhance its smart system, Apple has doubled down on making its existing device more powerful for everyone.