Smartphones Preferred for Smart Home Control; Privacy Fears Mar Digital Assistants: GfK

U.S. consumers strongly prefer smartphones over digital home assistants as smart home controllers, said GfK Tuesday. The company canvassed 1,000 consumers online and found that 83 percent use their smartphones at home, compared with 75 percent for laptops, 54 percent for PCs and 34 percent for videogame consoles. It's "no surprise” consumers also regard smartphones as their preferred smart home “hubs,” said GfK, “especially for the many appliances that allow controlling and viewing the home at a distance.” Users of digital assistants remain very loyal to their devices, it said. Fifty-one percent of such users regard their devices as “extremely integrated” into daily lives, even though 75 percent bought their digital assistants less than a year ago. Worries about personal privacy could account for a “major obstacle to adoption” for digital assistants, it said, with 35 percent citing privacy as a big concern.