Comparing the innovations and ethics of the biggest tech companies in the smart home industry.

Between COVID-19, a contentious presidential election and any number of other world events, 2020 was a wild year. Despite the craziness, the smart home industry has continued to chug along, churning out dozens of interesting new devices, from spherical smart speakers to selfie-snapping bird feeders. Leading the way into the future of the home: Amazon, Google and more recently Apple.

Which of these tech giants won 2020 in the smart home, as much as that's possible? Has Amazon's aggressive development of Alexa finally closed the gap with the smarter Google Assistant? Will Apple's $99 Homepod Mini earn it a larger share of the Amazon- and Google-dominated smart speaker market?