Smart speakers were popularized by Amazon’s Echo series of devices that were first unveiled back in 2014. At the time, the idea behind a smart speaker was to develop a device that would act as a smart assistant, just like the ones in smartphones, without having to use the phone or press a button. The company came up with a smart speaker that had Alexa integration and was, in a way, “always listening.” Following its success, other manufacturers like Google and Apple jumped in the game and released their own versions of a smart speaker.