Facebook Wants to Kill the Amazon Echo

The design of the speaker is in line with Facebook’s emphasis on visual interaction and video innovation, so expect some unique features involving live in-home feeds and direct-to-social connectivity. In other words, expect this thing to be able to not just listen to you, but watch you, too.

Facebook’s device joins Amazon’s Echo, the Google Home, and Apple’s HomePod, which coming at the end of this year. It’s the latest major player in a market expected to grow to $5.5 billion in the next five years. Smart-speaker shipments reached 5.9 million units worldwide last year, with 4.2 million shipped in the fourth quarter of 2016 alone. With the Amazon Echo currently standing as the industry leader, it's clear that Facebook would have the e-commerce giant firmly in their sights if these rumors turn out to be true.

The obvious concern with such a piece of tech is privacy, but so far, Facebook’s been tight-lipped on the existence of the speaker at all, let alone the privacy implications they need to reckon with upon its confirmation and distribution. Having a microphone in your home that's always on is questionable enough knowing it belongs to a corporate giant like Amazon or Google. A camera with the same functionality, which this device has a decent chance of featuring, raises even more concerns. If you'd like to skip the smart route altogether, here are three quality, wireless speakers that won't monitor your every move.