Im struggling to understand why the they discontinued the old Homepod, just to release a new one which is exactly the same, but with some temperature and humidity sensor and less tweeters? So strange announcement...
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Apple Announces New HomePod for $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More
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HobeSoundDarryl
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Running short of the old "brains" and OG was not selling well enough to make a new batch of old "brains."
Can’t wait to argue with Siri on a new an improved HomePod.
Apple today announced a second-generation full-size HomePod, available to order starting today for $299 in white and midnight color options. In-store availability and deliveries to customers will begin Friday, February 3 in select countries.
The second-generation HomePod features a virtually identical design as the full-size HomePod that was discontinued in March 2021, with a backlit touch surface and mesh fabric exterior. It features a four-inch high-excursion woofer, five tweeters, four microphones, an S7 chip for computational audio, a U1 chip for Ultra Wideband features like handing off music from an iPhone, and support for Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos. The speaker also has Siri integration and Matter support for HomeKit and other smart home accessories.
The new HomePod is 6.6-inches tall and weighs 5.1 pounds, compared to 6.8-inches and 5.5 pounds for the first-generation model, while both models are 5.6 inches wide. The new HomePod also has two fewer tweeters and microphones compared to the original model. The original HomePod was equipped with the A8 chip from the iPhone 6, while the new model has the S7 chip from the Apple Watch Series 7.
A new sensor in the HomePod can measure temperature and humidity in indoor environments, and this feature is also being enabled on the existing HomePod mini.
Apple will be expanding its Sound Recognition feature to the new HomePod with a software update this spring, allowing the speaker to listen for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and send a notification directly to a user's iPhone if a sound is identified.
At launch, the new HomePod will be available in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and 11 other countries, according to Apple. It is compatible with the iPhone 8 and later, any iPad Pro, the fifth-generation iPad and later, the third-generation iPad Air and later, and the fifth-generation iPad mini and later running iOS 16.3 or iPadOS 16.3 or later.
"Leveraging our audio expertise and innovations, the new HomePod delivers rich, deep bass, natural mid-range, and clear, detailed highs," said Apple's marketing chief Greg Joswiak. "With the popularity of HomePod mini, we've seen growing interest in even more powerful acoustics achievable in a larger HomePod. We're thrilled to bring the next generation of HomePod to customers around the world."
Apple continues to sell the HomePod mini for $99.
Article Link: Apple Announces New HomePod for $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More
it's back! maybe not something I would want seeing as my first gen is in my gym room being used very little.
The inability to stereo pair w/ the original model and the 299 price ... it's almost like they're making it hard on purpose. Like a lot of other folks, I decided to go with a bunch of Sonos devices (Playbase and a bunch of One SLs w/ no "smart services"). I think for 299 I'll just replace hopes of having a cool stereo Homepod setup with more One SLs. No way will I pay 600 and orphan my original unit just to have a HomePod pair.
I use Raspberry Pi to run as Airplay 2 receiver and control Creative USB sound device via optical output to HiFi speakers. The audio quality is much better than HomePod.At the risk of sounding like a fanboi, that is true of any gadget manufacturer. I've jumped around from one company to another for my 1st world comforts, and ultimately have settled on apple's walled garden as they at least seem the most reliable at releasing updates where applicable to their 2, 3, even 4-year-old devices. Sure they don't have all the same features since newer features will be built on technology that didn't exist or wasn't cost-effective. I'm a customer that no longer needs the latest and greatest and will typically purchase new old stock or a refurbed model to save some money at the expense of not having all the newest bells and whistles. Apple didn't have to enable sleep tracking on their watches older than series 5 (I think that was the newest one at the time anyway), but they did so (I had the series 2 at the time).
Now, does that mean they shouldn't add industry standards like aux ports to relevant hardware? No. If it's a speaker, it should have an aux port. I don't have any apple-made speakers (heck, I don't even have a fancy tv, lol, just a little 22" insignia). If I had the time, money and room, I'd build out an old school multimedia room with a receiver/amplifier, 8.1 surround and nice wood floor speakers. It'd be way overkill for what my degrading senses could appreciate but I'd have the serotonin release as a reward for a vinyl Pink Floyd listening session
The OG HomePods were WiFi 5 but dropping to WiFi 4 is no real surprise given the watch heritage and that the HomePod minis are also WiFi 4 ('n' speeds on a 1x1). The bandwidth needs are very small and just using 1x1 radio leaves others free to service other clients.
I've no idea why you think the rest of the network will crater as they all work fine on my network:
No actually 2 fewer tweeters and microphones. But price is the same. Apple has proved it too high vs competition again 🤦🏻♂️
So how is this going to end up different than the original HomePod? I mean at least it's cheaper by $50 (CAD) and the price looks a bit more attractive being under $400.00. Just don't know if it's enough to replace anything SONOS in my current set up.
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amazing apple added an update for mini but decided not to enable it for how long? lol unbelievable
Forget about that. Apple no longer focus on few things but important ones as they used to be. They now focus on many things and want to make their portfolio of products and services bigger and bigger, while trying to find the next big thing in the tech world. They will continue to expand their ecosystem until it becomes virtually impractical to get out of it. I wont be surprised if they release a standalone TV with Apple branding at some moment in time just to make sure that all electronics in your house can now be 100% Apple.
Yea, this is what I'm trying to figure out. Is the woofer the same size as the previous - is the throw of the speaker still the same? I'm curious if there is any measurements around clarity, sound accuracy, loudness, etc. to enjoy.
I like the lower price point and am definitely interested in buying one, but was hoping for more differences to be called out.
I bet you it is cheaper to manufacture. Two fewer tweeters and mics, probably cheaper chip to manufacture (S vs A) but added temp/humid as an extra feature. Hopefully it actually sounds better and can still pick up voice just as well. The OG HomePod may have been overkill in terms of hardware. Apparently the mini already had the temp sensor inside and Apple was waiting for this new speaker to be released before enabling it. Bonus for mini owners, I suppose.
Well got hear it but removing tweeters may affect sound quality?
IDK pricing well but seems pricey to me as well unless you want it to remain a niche product.
$199-250
What are you talking about? They sold out of the original HomePod. People were clamoring for them when they discontinued them and they were selling for over retail on eBay
Just because you connect a device that only supports N to a network that lets say has AX clients doesn't mean every AX device has to fall back to N. The AX clients can still talk to the AP at AX speeds. Where you'd see a potential impact is if the N device is transferring a lot of data, which will happen at a slower rate, using more airtime that the AX clients might need to use.
I think your thinking makes a lot of sense. I still don't like the the price for this level of product...$249 feels "Appley"....$199 feels competitive enough to be interesting.
Man I’m happy to see it but £600 to upgrade from my first gen pair? Sure my pair are pretty long in the tooth, they’re slow, often need pairing/syncing together again… but am I gonna pay £600 to fix that?
Really wish these were $249 or even $199 each if you’re ordering a pair. Feels like apple haven’t understood why the first gen didn’t sell well.
Really wish these were $249 or even $199 each if you’re ordering a pair. Feels like apple haven’t understood why the first gen didn’t sell well.