Siri has commanding lead in users over Google Assistant, Samsung S Voice in the US

Posted:
in iPhone edited July 2017
A new study of voice recognition assistants on smartphones shows Apple's Siri to be in the lead of all other comers -- but usage industry-wide appears to be dropping.




According to a new study by Verto Analytics, 44 percent of all smartphones in the U.S. have a personal assistant app. Siri has 41.4 million users per month of a total pool of users in the U.S. is 71 million.

Siri has nearly twice the user base as its nearest competitor, Samsung S Voice.

Overall, the time spent per user per month has dropped notably in a year, down across the board from 26 minutes to 12.

However, Siri's metrics are falling. Between May 2016 and May 2017, Verto claims that Siri lost 7.3 million monthly users. Samsung S Voice has dropped proportionately as well, suggesting that the decline is more from usability concerns and market trends than any specific concern about Apple's technologies.

Verto postulates that the drop in numbers is from standalone devices, like the Amazon Echo and Google Home series of products, which have seen unspecified "dramatic growth" in the last year. Apple will be joining that market with the HomePod, but with it launching with a subset of Siri specializing in music playback, it will most likely not be considered a standalone voice recognition assistant.

Samsung's next-generation voice recognition software, Bixby, has yet to see a rollout in the US. Reportedly. it has a "data problem" which has led to poor english comprehension.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 45
    simply258simply258 Posts: 133member
    Everyone with an iPhone accidentally triggers Siri once a day at least. That's a lot of Siri users!
    williamlondonavon b7
  • Reply 2 of 45
    I trigger Siri a dozen times to get her to understand me once... I look forward to the "new and improved" Siri this fall, especially with Barbara Eden's voice...
    williamlondonSpamSandwichavon b7
  • Reply 3 of 45
    hammerd2hammerd2 Posts: 50member
    STOP PRESS "product with far larger installed base has more users" SHOCK HORROR !!! Is it such a slow news day ?

    Having said that, it's a shame Siri is utter dogsh!t. Everyone tries it at least once intentionally, then loads of times accifentally - usually with similar results. I've rarely found an instance when manually searching wouldn't have been at least as quick as Siri.
    williamlondonking editor the grateavon b7techrules
  • Reply 4 of 45
    jdgazjdgaz Posts: 403member
    Use Siri a lot more frequently since having CarPlay. Generally works pretty well for navigation, and much better than typing into a GPS.
    williamlondonwatto_cobrapalomine
  • Reply 5 of 45
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    The technology is just a pain. I don't understand why Apple hasn't integrated technologies from their VocalIQ acquisition yet.



    Impressive.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/how-apples-vocaliq-ai-works-2016-5

    simply258 said:
    Everyone with an iPhone accidentally triggers Siri once a day at least. That's a lot of Siri users!
    Aren't the knockoffs just as easy?

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 45
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    People who use Siri a lot have a much different experience than those who have just "tried it". It is a learning system. If it doesn't understand something you said, you can in fact teach it. Most just assume verbal is as clear as typed text, when it is not; different accent, tone, inflection, etc.

    It's easy for something like Alexa to understand you more clearly because it uses a finite database of commands. And can pick the closest match of what it thinks you said.

    Siri is a natural language processor and as such doesn't have pre-set commands to follow - it only has a set of known subjects/domains to refer to. And since the same thing can be said in many, many different ways, Siri has to be able to understand and interpret YOUR voice. It can only do that if you use it a lot.
    lostkiwiuniscapecoolfactorwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 45
    mykemmykem Posts: 33member
    I trigger Siri a dozen times to get her to understand me once... I look forward to the "new and improved" Siri this fall, especially with Barbara Eden's voice...
    Siri's voice had definitely changed in iOS 11. I'm not sure if it's Barbara Eden's but now it sounds much younger. I actually prefer the old Siri- she sounded more mature, more reassuring. Maybe I'll try the British accented Siri. 
  • Reply 8 of 45
    Siri has been a source of endless frustration for me, without the promised context, learning, or the ability to do even the most basic things if you go off script even slightly, which is ridiculous.

    That said, I have actually been noticing ways that siri has been learning in the past several months. Some of the same questions that siri got wrong before, she is getting right now. Also, I've been noticing that Siri handles queries very well from multiple devices. Even if I'm trying to talk to my watch, if my iPad is nearby, the iPad will pick up the querry, as it apparently (obviously) has better microphones.

    One of my main peves rn is that siri can't handle multiple querries at once. It gets a bit tiring; for example:

    hey siri, turn my living room lights blue
      pause
    hey siri, turn my living room lights to 50 percent
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights violet
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights to 30 percent

    This is a typical routine for me that I think could/should be made much simpler by being able to combine those commands into a single sentence.

    I hope Apple is ready to make a big jump soon to make up for the HUGE lead that they seem to have mostly squandered (performance wise).

    Also, I can't wait to get a Home Pod.
    edited July 2017 williamlondonwatto_cobrapalomine
  • Reply 9 of 45
    And it's still sucks somehow.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 10 of 45
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    mad102190 said:
    And it's still sucks somehow.
    I think the point is they ALL suck at this point. The technology itself has a long way to go. But it does counter the troll claims that Alexa and Google Now are crushing Siri six ways till Sunday. Understanding human vocalizations is very difficult for AI and will continue to be for some time.
    edited July 2017 williamlondonwatto_cobratechrules
  • Reply 11 of 45
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Siri has been a source of endless frustration for me, without the promised context, learning, or the ability to do even the most basic things if you go off script even slightly, which is ridiculous.

    That said, I have actually been noticing ways that siri has been learning in the past several months. Some of the same questions that siri got wrong before, she is getting right now. Also, I've been noticing that Siri handles queries very well from multiple devices. Even if I'm trying to talk to my watch, if my iPad is nearby, the iPad will pick up the querry, as it apparently (obviously) has better microphones.

    One of my main peves rn is that siri can't handle multiple querries at once. It gets a bit tiring; for example:

    hey siri, turn my living room lights blue
      pause
    hey siri, turn my living room lights to 50 percent
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights violet
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights to 30 percent

    This is a typical routine for me that I think could/should be made much simpler by being able to combine those commands into a single sentence.

    I hope Apple is ready to make a big jump soon to make up for the HUGE lead that they seem to have mostly squandered (performance wise).

    Also, I can't wait to get a Home Pod.

    Uh, why don't you just set a scene in homekit for those series of commands? I don't get it. That's the whole POINT of scenes. 


    williamlondoncoolfactorStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 45
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    simply258 said:
    Everyone with an iPhone accidentally triggers Siri once a day at least. That's a lot of Siri users!
    So what, exactly, are you implying here?
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 45
    slurpy said:
    Siri has been a source of endless frustration for me, without the promised context, learning, or the ability to do even the most basic things if you go off script even slightly, which is ridiculous.

    That said, I have actually been noticing ways that siri has been learning in the past several months. Some of the same questions that siri got wrong before, she is getting right now. Also, I've been noticing that Siri handles queries very well from multiple devices. Even if I'm trying to talk to my watch, if my iPad is nearby, the iPad will pick up the querry, as it apparently (obviously) has better microphones.

    One of my main peves rn is that siri can't handle multiple querries at once. It gets a bit tiring; for example:

    hey siri, turn my living room lights blue
      pause
    hey siri, turn my living room lights to 50 percent
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights violet
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights to 30 percent

    This is a typical routine for me that I think could/should be made much simpler by being able to combine those commands into a single sentence.

    I hope Apple is ready to make a big jump soon to make up for the HUGE lead that they seem to have mostly squandered (performance wise).

    Also, I can't wait to get a Home Pod.

    Uh, why don't you just set a scene in homekit for those series of commands? I don't get it. That's the whole POINT of scenes. 


    While you are right, scenes definitely handle this sort of thing, I wish that capability was real as well. I don't want to have to set up a separate scene for every combination of lighting and brightness for every room in my house, let alone name them all and remember those names.  It would be much simpler to say "Set my bedroom to blue at 30%".

    This has to be coming, though. It's just a matter of time.  
    edited July 2017 watto_cobrapatchythepirate
  • Reply 14 of 45
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member
    It's funny, I've actually had the opposite experience with Siri lately.  I've found myself using it a lot more.  My wife incessantly sends me text messages when I'm driving and my car's built-in system doesn't have any way to read out text messages.  I kept telling her to call instead, but she never listened.  So I decided to try Siri for reading and sending text messages, and it's worked out very well for me.  The only hitch is that, after saying "Hey Siri", I find I need to wait a couple of seconds to hear the chime before I speak the command even though I have an iPhone 6S+ (not sure why it's so slow... could be the cellular connection speed).

    But yeah, "Read the last text message" and "Send text message to ..." both work great for me.  Also getting navigation has worked without a hitch.  Setting timers, alarms, adding calendar appointments, and other actions which hook into the built-in apps also work well.  I don't really have big expectations about being able to automagically look up information on the web aside from simple facts like, "When was <movie name> made?" and similar.
    edited July 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 45
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    hammerd2 said:
    STOP PRESS "product with far larger installed base has more users" SHOCK HORROR !!! Is it such a slow news day ?

    Having said that, it's a shame Siri is utter dogsh!t. Everyone tries it at least once intentionally, then loads of times accifentally - usually with similar results. I've rarely found an instance when manually searching wouldn't have been at least as quick as Siri.
    I wouldn't use such a harsh description, but I do agree Siri is now usually the last thing I think of using on my iPhone.
  • Reply 16 of 45
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    lkrupp said:
    mad102190 said:
    And it's still sucks somehow.
    I think the point is they ALL suck at this point. The technology itself has a long way to go. But it does counter the troll claims that Alexa and Google Now are crushing Siri six ways till Sunday. Understanding human vocalizations is very difficult for AI and will continue to be for some time.
    Ummm.... The number of users isn't a measuring stick for usability.  By your reasoning use-share could be used "to counter troll claims" that iOS is better than Android simply based on how many use the two. Android is by far more widely used but we all know that does not mean it's more effective and useable
    edited July 2017
  • Reply 17 of 45
    auxio said:
    The only hitch is that, after saying "Hey Siri", I find I need to wait a couple of seconds to hear the chime before I speak the command even though I have an iPhone 6S+ (not sure why it's so slow... could be the cellular connection speed).
    I'm curious, is your iPhone connected to Bluetooth in your car when doing these things?  I've noticed in my last 2 cars that when I'm connected to Bluetooth (which is pretty much always) and use "Hey, Siri" that it takes a good 2 or 3 seconds before I hear the chime, every time.  If I'm not on Bluetooth but still in the car and try it again it works normally.  I also noticed that Siri's voice sounds poor, like low quality audio AND it has trouble understanding me over the car's microphone quite frequently.

    However, in my wife's car with CarPlay "Hey, Siri" works great and is faster to initiate than using the button on the steering wheel.  Of course, this is also not over Bluetooth as the iPhone is connected via Lightning.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 45
    slurpy said:
    Siri has been a source of endless frustration for me, without the promised context, learning, or the ability to do even the most basic things if you go off script even slightly, which is ridiculous.

    That said, I have actually been noticing ways that siri has been learning in the past several months. Some of the same questions that siri got wrong before, she is getting right now. Also, I've been noticing that Siri handles queries very well from multiple devices. Even if I'm trying to talk to my watch, if my iPad is nearby, the iPad will pick up the querry, as it apparently (obviously) has better microphones.

    One of my main peves rn is that siri can't handle multiple querries at once. It gets a bit tiring; for example:

    hey siri, turn my living room lights blue
      pause
    hey siri, turn my living room lights to 50 percent
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights violet
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights to 30 percent

    This is a typical routine for me that I think could/should be made much simpler by being able to combine those commands into a single sentence.

    I hope Apple is ready to make a big jump soon to make up for the HUGE lead that they seem to have mostly squandered (performance wise).

    Also, I can't wait to get a Home Pod.

    Uh, why don't you just set a scene in homekit for those series of commands? I don't get it. That's the whole POINT of scenes. 


    Uh, I do set scenes. I don't get the point of your comment. I'd rather not set dozens of scenes for every permutation of homekit options I use or may want to use in the future. It doesn't seem unreasonable or difficult to have siri perform more than one task for each 'hey siri' prompt. Does that seem unreasonable to you? ..after >6 years of development of siri?
  • Reply 19 of 45
    Asking when a movie was released on Apple Watch leads to glorious results. On other foot, I was between Flora and Salem, Illinois, recently and asked, "Hey, Siri, how far am I from Salem?" and was greeted with the result, "It looks like Salem, India is about 8,872 miles away as the crow flies."
    edited July 2017 patchythepirate
  • Reply 20 of 45
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Siri has been a source of endless frustration for me, without the promised context, learning, or the ability to do even the most basic things if you go off script even slightly, which is ridiculous.

    That said, I have actually been noticing ways that siri has been learning in the past several months. Some of the same questions that siri got wrong before, she is getting right now. Also, I've been noticing that Siri handles queries very well from multiple devices. Even if I'm trying to talk to my watch, if my iPad is nearby, the iPad will pick up the querry, as it apparently (obviously) has better microphones.

    One of my main peves rn is that siri can't handle multiple querries at once. It gets a bit tiring; for example:

    hey siri, turn my living room lights blue
      pause
    hey siri, turn my living room lights to 50 percent
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights violet
      pause
    hey siri, turn my kitchen lights to 30 percent

    This is a typical routine for me that I think could/should be made much simpler by being able to combine those commands into a single sentence.

    I hope Apple is ready to make a big jump soon to make up for the HUGE lead that they seem to have mostly squandered (performance wise).

    Also, I can't wait to get a Home Pod.

    I find it hard to be sympathetic with this complaint. All I see is someone sitting on a couch asking a computer to do things for them.  :D

    But as others said, if this is something you do repeatedly, use a scene. Imagine that.... someone already solved your problem, just a different way.
    king editor the grate
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