Since Amazon launched their Echo home speakers Smart Speakers have been taking over the world, and now there’s statistics to prove it.

New research from NPR and Edison Research shows that 1 in 6 adults in the US, which equates to roughly 39 million people, now own a Smart Speaker. Smart Speakers have actually grown so quickly that their growth is “outpacing the adoption rates of smartphones and tablets”.

The so-called ‘Smart Audio Report’ showed that 16% of American’s own a voice-activated speaker and the majority of them own Amazon Echos. The report found 11% of adult Americans own Amazon Alexa powered speakers whilst 4% own Google Homes. Interestingly 65% of those with Smart Speakers said they wouldn’t go back to life before, which perhaps isn’t as high as you’d expect though their reasons weren’t given.

Of course the holiday season was a big time for all products but the 2017 holiday period was especially popular for Smart Speakers. The Smart Audio Report showed that 7% of Americans got a Smart Speaker in the holidays and 4% of Americans got their very first one.

One of the biggest effects happening with Smart Speakers is the sudden adoption of virtual assistants helping us in our everyday life, like some pseudo-sci-fi tale. It’s making people more open to the technology as well, as 64% of those surveyed with Smart Speakers say that they’re interested in having the technology in their car.

As Smart Speakers become more and more popular the demand for other Smart tech increases and the effect is being seen in the incredible number of connected devices coming out all the time now. A lot of people are already now living in homes where they can tell a robot to switch their lights on and off, arrange their schedule, play music, find things out online, and so much more.

Welcome to the future, it’s only just beginning.