As ownership of smartphones and Smart Speakers has continued to increase over the past couple of years, so has the use of voice commands on these devices. This is per a Q4 2021 survey [download page] from Hub Entertainment Research.
Some 83% of the 2,500 US consumers ages 16-74 surveyed report having ever used voice command on any device. This is up from 80% who said the same in 2019. There has been a lift in the use of voice commands across the devices included in the survey. Some 7 in 10 use the voice command feature on their smartphone (up from 65% in 2019), while 45% use it on Smart Speakers and 32% on their TV or TV device remote, up from 39% and 28%, respectively.
About one-third (32%) of respondents use voice command to answer queries, making it the most important capability. This is followed by communication such as text messaging, emails and phone calls (18%).
Prior research indicates that voice assistant users are concerned about the privacy of their data. Although many respondents to this more recent survey express concerns about their privacy when using voice commands, fewer are concerned than were two years ago. This change can be seen in the percentage who say they are very concerned about unwanted listening (38% in 2021 vs. 46% in 2019) and who are very concerned about data collection (39% vs. 48%).
Concerns about privacy prevail as a reason for not owning Smart Speakers. Some 6 in 10 (58% of) respondents who do not own a Smart Speaker and do not intend to buy one say that they are concerned about privacy. However, this share of respondents has also dropped since 2019, when 66% of such consumers cited this as a reason for not purchasing a Smart Speaker.
An excerpt of the report can be found here.
About the Data: Findings are based on a Q4 2021 survey of 2,500 US consumers ages 16-74.
