For 2025, we have seen many improvements in the IAS, being increasingly human and intelligent. Amazon, meanwhile, has also been perfecting Alexaand although if you have an old echo, you will not notice, if you buy one of the new ones, you will see a great change.
This is something Apple has been promising for more than 1 year, with a Smarter Sirithat we would have to have, which, in turn, has meant that the Homepod that were going to leave these months, also delayed, waiting for the update to arrive, so Amazon would have advanced them bluntly.
Siri or Alexa for 2026?
Amazon has taken a turn to intelligences, presenting Alexa+. The idea is not to put more buttons on the speaker, but to turn it into something that speaks and thinks closer, an assistant who understands context, holds conversations and acts according to your customs instead of waiting for exact orders. Something similar to what we can try in Chatgpt day by day, but in voice, and integrated into its devices.
The practical difference is quick. Instead of rigid phrases “light the light”, now You can say less concrete things and that the system understands the intention: “I'm going to sleep” or “Let's see a movie” are enough to adjust lighting, put music or open the app on TV. It also remembers routines and can anticipate: if you turn off the lights every night and put the alarm, you can suggest it or do it for you. We could do this with personalized phrases, but they had to be exact, and I almost always said “I have not understood you.”
Another important aspect is privacy and speed. Amazon has moved part of the defendant to the devices themselves, so not everything has to travel to the cloud. That reduces latencies and limits what data they leave your home, which is just what many users ask when we talk about always active assistants. Reason why the old models will not be able to have this AI, something we have already seen with the iPhone and Apple Intelligence, which, due to the need for hardware, began on the iPhone 15 Pro.
In a nutshell, Alexa+ wants to stop being a simple assistant who expects orders and becoming a partner at home: closer, more attentive and with the ability to adapt to your day to day. It is not just about adding functions, but about talking with technology feeling less mechanical and much more human. We will see if it is really achieved, or not. What we do know is that Homepod and the new Siri are not yet close to arriving, so this may squeeze Apple, and force them to go a little faster, at least if they do not want everyone to end up buying a Alexa+ and forgets the Homepods.
And you, what do you think of all this? Are you more from Alexa, or Siri? The truth is that, due to the prices of Amazon devices, and the progress, it seems that Apple has to change a lot if you want to lead this sector.
