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Apple Announces New HomePod for $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More
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Still $299 and you can be for sure they will not over-produce stock this time. I wish they would include an AUX jack and/or standard Bluetooth from non-AirPlay sources.
I think this is National Apple Week or something like that because I have never seen this happen ever.
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.
Two second-generation HomePods can be paired for stereo sound, but one second-generation HomePod and one first-generation HomePod cannot.
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 $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More
Is there a handy-dandy chart somewhere comparing the old full-sized HomePod to the new full-sized one?
You could become a successful product manager, but not at Apple
Guessing they save multiple colours for a release in the fall.
Why couldn’t they do that now like the iMac. Although they did wait with HP mini before releasing the blue, orange and yellow models.
Why couldn’t they do that now like the iMac. Although they did wait with HP mini before releasing the blue, orange and yellow models.
According to the tech specs page on Apple's website, the box contains a power cord. So yea, looks like it is removable.
I’m happy to get such a great news just for beginning a new day. It looks good. Price is a little smaller than the OH was but for those who want to buy them: I remember it was tons of sales everywhere like Best Buy for half price. It will definitely coming again. You just need to wait a while. Now it’s 50$ less than before and don’t forget inflation: try to compare products prices 2018 and now. It counts too.
For the unlikely event that Apple does a firmware update someday that unlocks this smart speaker for use with non-Apple devices: TVs, audio output devices (stereos), Android phones, PCs, car stereos, etc.
The iPod was stubbornly “Mac-only” for over nine months before Steve Jobs acceded to Tony Fadell’s desire for iTunes/iPod Windows compatibility.
It wasn’t until then that the iPod exploded in global sales and became a global cultural phenomenon.
If Apple wants to make money on these things (HomePods) they’re going to have to open them up to non-Apple devices. They need to become iconic. Ordinary people need to recognize them when they walk into someone’s house who has one.
The Apple Ecosystem is a powerful selling point, but I don’t think HomePod compatibility with Apple-only devices is enough to convince most people to settle on buying only Apple products. (Just as the iPod and iTunes exclusivity didn’t measurably increase Mac sales.)
Also, WiFi is great for streaming (rich, uncompressed audio) — better than Bluetooth 5.3 — but Bluetooth is better in the other direction: streaming audio received, via microphones…where latency issues are germane… IDKY
And “listening” serves many purposes on things like smart speakers and ANC headphones: listening for ambient sounds, monitoring its own sound output, picking up “Hey Siri” from within a lot of loud noise, using acoustic “bouncing” or echolocation for calibrating sound output according to where the speaker is located, positioned and what’s around it, etc. So ≈ zero latency is important.
But maybe a Bluetooth 5.3 controller chip cost 20¢ more than 5.0 from Broadcom, so…
I’m thinking they had to drop it because of chip shortage and were selling more minis that needed fewer chips as well.
With fewer tweeters on this new one, I'm curious how it compares to the already lacklustre treble on the existing one.
S7 chip after telling us for more that it would have the S8. These leaks are less and less reliable.
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.
Two second-generation HomePods can be paired for stereo sound, but one second-generation HomePod and one first-generation HomePod cannot.
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
Oh come on. You cant see how genius this is? Apple discontinues the HomePod…everybody with a short attention span forgets it ever existed, then apple brings it BACK out thinking people will think its a new product and get excited.
A tech influencer on twitter commented a few days ago that although they have a $7,000 specced up m1 MacBook Pro, they want to get the new one. Why? Who knows. Because its new and consumers have an addiction to all things new
You won't be able to hear "hi res" audio on a HomePod anyway so it'd be pointless.
I know it's not the same as what you're describing, but utilising the ARC function in the second and third-gen Apple TV 4K can provide additional flexibility.
I can route my Mac mini gaming on GeForce now / steam remotes play from my gaming pc audio through them and it works a treat.
And here I am listening to music on my single OG HomePod in the living room
We don't sit in front of the speakers and listen for separation, just want sound filling the room and one is enough for that.
to be fair, the S8 is indistinguishable from the S7 and the S6. Those are Apple Watch chips and there has been virtually no change in the SOC in the last 3 years or so.
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They don't want to make money on the hardware "things". I mean sure, they want to sell the hardware at their usual profit margins - but that's about it (and probably reason speccing the thing lower in some ways than its predecessor). But hardware sales aren't a priority - let alone selling you only one of the things.
👉 They want to lock you into their ecosystem and make money on services (Apple Music).
In other words: The perceived benefits of opening up don't outweigh the benefits of locking you into Apple's ecosystem. At least not for Apple.
I kind of agree on that - and the first HomePod showed that. They didn't have that fire sale on the 1st gen for nothing (or the closest equivalent to a fire sale that you could get, given that it's Apple).
👉 It they really wanted to make open this up and make it a decent non-proprietary speaker, there wouldn't had a better opportunity than exactly this release: They could have added a line-in and Bluetooth for a dollar or two and not only silence the critics among the reviewers but even draw applause from them.
But Apple is, as you said it yourself, to stubborn for that.
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I got an OG pair for $199 each. Still loving them every day, especially since they added eARC functionality through Apple TV (after they were discontinued, lol).
Assuming audio quality has not taken a step back, the new price is not unexpected. This is a very well-engineered speaker that will beat out most lower-priced competitors in audio fidelity. I suspect most resellers will have it for $279 soon enough, which is reasonable. I agree Apple should sell 2-packs for $499 or even $549.
The problem with these compared to other apple products? No differentiating operating system. iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Apple TV all sell in droves because the operating systems are the best and most user-friendly in the industry. HomePods just don't have that factor going for them, and Siri isn't going to convince customers except maybe on the privacy aspect (and even that is debatable). Still, good to see this product make a comeback, and I hope it sees enough success to live on.
Assuming audio quality has not taken a step back, the new price is not unexpected. This is a very well-engineered speaker that will beat out most lower-priced competitors in audio fidelity. I suspect most resellers will have it for $279 soon enough, which is reasonable. I agree Apple should sell 2-packs for $499 or even $549.
The problem with these compared to other apple products? No differentiating operating system. iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Apple TV all sell in droves because the operating systems are the best and most user-friendly in the industry. HomePods just don't have that factor going for them, and Siri isn't going to convince customers except maybe on the privacy aspect (and even that is debatable). Still, good to see this product make a comeback, and I hope it sees enough success to live on.