Tech Awards 2024 Readers' Choice Results - Part 5
You've read our picks in the Editor's Choice series showcasing the best products of the year as tested by our editorial team, and now we present the results of the Readers' Choice series of Tech Awards 2024. This segment of the awards highlights the top tech brands and services in Singapore, as chosen by you.
This year, we have 47 award categories for polling—many of them are brand new as we constantly retool our survey to stay relevant to our audience. After a month of compiling the results from thousands of our readers, we're ready to share the outcome to help Singaporeans make an informed buying decision and highlight why these brands came out ahead.
This article is Part 5 (out of 8) and covers the five awards that comprise the Best of Home Appliances. This is the first time readers are voting for all these categories as we open up the Tech Awards to more lifestyle and smart living technologies. Here are the contents of this article:-
- Best Cordless Vacuum Brand
- Best Robot Vacuum Brand
- Best Air Purifier Brand
- Best Washing Machine Brand
- Best Fridge Brand
Best Cordless Vacuum Brand - Dyson
Dyson wins Best Cordless Vacuum Brand with a landslide 53% of overall votes. This comes as no surprise as the brand has successfully cultivated a lifestyle image around their products. You can even say that Dyson is to home appliances what Apple is to mobile and computing. A Dyson vacuum cleaner is often seen as a statement piece to be displayed rather than an appliance you hide in the store room.
The second and third spots are held by Airbot (a brand founded in Singapore) and Xiaomi respectively, both brands that are better known for their affordability. From these results, we can infer that users are either looking for the best bang-for-buck appliance to get the job done, or aspiring to get a Dyson, which further cements their "luxury" home brand status. Traditional vacuum cleaner brands like Bosch, Philips, Electrolux all take a back seat, which may be why Samsung and LG have put great efforts in modernising their vacuums to look like designer pieces. You can also check out our Editor's Choice Best Cordless Vacuum Cleaner to see our editorial team picks.
Best Robot Vacuum Brand
We talked about Dyson having that Apple-like effect for home appliance, and that seems to be true in all the three polls that they're in. Dyson has released only a single robot vacuum so far, the 360 Vis Nav, but they've already won the votes of our readers and editors alike. While not in same margin as cordless vacuums, Dyson still commanded a healthy lead with 25% of votes. In second place, Xiaomi has 14% of the votes. The rest of the chart is dominated by Chinese brands, like Ecovacs and Roborock. However, do bear in mind again that these Readers' Choice results are based on a popularity vote for the brands among our readers. For example, the OG robot vacuum brand, iRobot, still has a very strong brand recall in third place, even though the Roomba has been thoroughly eclipsed by Chinese competition in every aspect of price, performance, and features.
Best Air Purifier Brand
Dyson completes the trifecta by winning all three categories they are in, bagging Best Air Purifier Brand with 23% of votes. Now, if you're thinking how did Dyson manage that with the gimmicky Zone air purifying headphones or giant Big+Quiet Formaldehyde, don't forget that all Dyson Pure Cool fans come with HEPA filters, and have basically been re-branded as air purifiers over the years. Just like Best Cordless Vacuum Brand and Best Robot Vacuum Brand above, we continue to see the trend where users are voting for Dyson as the luxury pick, and then going for affordability second. Xiaomi is holding strong in third place with 11% of the votes, but local brand Sterra comes in second with 14% likely due to their strong guerrilla social marketing tactics.
Best Washing Machine Brand
As the first time running these polls for this category, it was really interesting to finally get some solid data on brand recall for some of the everyday appliances at home we take for granted. But here we are, with LG taking the win for Best Washing Machine Brand with 26% of the votes; Samsung just a hair's breath away at 25%. Together, LG and Samsung make up more than half of the pie, which is a testament to the inroads both South Korean brands have made into modern homes. Both brands have spent years building up a connected ecosystem, with LG's ThinQ and Samsung's SmartThings championing a smart living lifestyle where even mundane appliances like the washing machine gets updated with fancy connected features like AI-powered washing. These are probably the reason why LG and Samsung are so far ahead of traditional European brands.
Now for an interesting tidbit: HardwareZone has actually done a poll in this sector once back in 2016. Focused on our forum community (which by the way, is the largest social discussion platform in Singapore), we conducted the HardwareZone Community Lifestatly Awards, where LG came out to be our community's top pick for the Best Washing Machine Brand. So eight years on, the sentiment still holds true!
Best Fridge Brand
Just like the Best Washing Machine Brand poll, the South Koreans take the 1-2 spot, though Samsung has a larger lead here with 26% of the votes compared to LG's 21%. We've seen a lot of focus on home appliance and smart living for both brands even at tech shows like CES where fridges and ovens make it into the keynote speech. Just like vacuum cleaners, fridges are evolving into designer pieces for your home and even acting as an important hub for other smart devices. Samsung's Bespoke lineup of fridges isn't just modular, it has everything from AI cameras that help keep your food fresh, to luxury builds that includes a wine cellar, with the SmartThings ecosystem coming into play again.
This is also a category where we first asked our forum users in the HWZ Community Lifestyle Awards 2016, and the Best Fridge Brand winner was also Samsung. It's astonishing how brand preferences have stayed strong all these years, but it's a testament to how well both Korean brands continue to make a strong impression in the homes of Singaporeans.
That wraps up the Readers' Choice voting segment for the Best of Home Appliances and we hope the next time you need to shop for a home appliance in a jiffy, you know which brands to look out for. Don't forget to check out the results in these other categories that we'll be publishing over the next few days:-
- Part 1: Best of Personal Computing Brands
- Part 2: Best DIY Computing Brands
- Part 3: Best Mobile Tech Brands
- Part 4: Best Lifestyle Tech Brands
- Part 5: Best Home Appliances Brands (this article)
- Part 6: Best Home Entertainment Brands
- Part 7: Best Service Provider Brands
- Part 8: Best Tech Brands in Gaming
Lastly, don't forget that we've also published our Editor's Choice results here to help you get the best of the best gear.
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