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Apple Discontinues Full-Sized HomePod to Focus on HomePod Mini

jameskachan said:
I was waiting for a refreshed second generation HomePod, sigh… I was going to buy two of them.
Okay, so, since Apple isn't going to produce high-end audio, then, where is the 2021 version of an Airport Express to connect to other speakers?
ugh....
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Belkin has a AirPlay 2 streaming device coming soon. MacRumors wrote an article about it. It would be nice if Apple made a HomePod mini with a line out jack to be connected to a high end stereo system (or A/V receiver) or a HomePod mini w/o a speaker and just a line out jack. Make it shaped like a hockey puck or something with a glass top.
 
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khunsanook said:
It would be so great (but unlikely) if that ATV refresh includes a return to an optical port. The previous ATV optical port was such an easy way to integrate stereo receivers into iOS, since many do not have HDMI ports.
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Supposedly the new M1 MacBook Pro 16 inch models are going to bring back a bunch of extra ports. Maybe this is a signal that Tim or someone in industrial design has issued an edict that says “the drastic reduction or complete removal of all ports is not helping our customers”. One can hope.
 
anticipate said:
I’m sure they won’t be. I have them. They sound amazing. But it’s too high a price for a niche product from a company that tries to be all things to all people.

at least they run Bluetooth though!
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I see AirPods as a Bluetooth+ earphones. Idon’t buy AirPods just for its audio, or even its noise cancelling feature. I buy it because of its H1 chip, ibuy it because it works really well within Apple ecosystem and its interoperability.

Without all of that, I wouldn’t pay that much for a mere AirPods. So many drawbacks, weak battery for its size and thus limited lifespan.
 
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Makes no sense. They are willing to release headphones that cost a bazillion dollars which only 5 people will buy, but somehow the HomePod ... which actually has home cinema potential ... gets canned?
 
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NervousFish2 said:
Makes no sense. They are willing to release headphones that cost a bazillion dollars which only 5 people will buy, but somehow the HomePod ... which actually has home cinema potential ... gets canned?
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The only problem with the home cinema narrative is that HomePods only work for output from an Apple TV.

A lot of folks, particularly the higher up the home theater chain you go, use more than just one input/device. Going all in on HomePods for home theater leaves those folks SOL for audio output from other sources.

Heck - what if you just use another input for a game console?
Out of luck with HomePods as the big play for audio out from the TV.

This is why they need some type of additional way to input to them (with a wire).
 
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trip1ex said:
wow. shocking. i got 2 and enjoy them. use them as tv speakers for atv and of course music. i don't do much siri unless I shout out a band or song. OR when I had YTTV I used siri to skip commercials.

sad to hear. maybe i should dump mine and move on to sonos as you gotta wonder if they'll let things slide going forward as far as compatibility with the atv goes. i got 'em cheap so wouldn't be out much $$$ if anything.

i imagine as siri music speakers they'll work fine for a long time.

it was a bit weird they got into the speaker game. I mean they did a speaker before and it was also short lived. And then they dumped side hustles like routers. this was never going to be more than a side hustle for them.


maybe they will buy sonos.
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I agree with everything you wrote except for when you said it was weird that Apple made speakers. It’s not weird. At all. It’s a natural. Especially in a virtual world. Amazon makes speakers, Google makes speakers, it’s makes sense that Apple would make connected speakers. Plus, they make AirPods and EarPods and tons of Beats headphones and now $550 AirPods Max audiophile headphones. What’s weird is that Siri isn’t the best. That’s super weird. The premier device manufacturer on planet earth, and the one that introduced virtual assistants, now has the #3 virtual assistant. If for no reason other than pride, the gotta fix that ****, stat. But the real reason is that who the hell would want AR glasses that rely on Siri, or trust Siri to help run their d*mn car if it doesn’t improve significantly.

If they don’t announce a major, seismic leap in Siri at WWDC this June I swear I’m gonna lead a boycott or strike against the mothership.

But I digress.
 
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That's a shame. I don't think it was the hardware or the price tag that kept people from buying it - it was the lack of native support, outside of Siri, for third party services, such as Spotify (which is only just now coming to the platform as a feature). Seems kind of out of touch tbh.
 
It's kind of an odd product.

On the surface; yes, it sounded great. It did what it was supposed to do really well. But why would anyone buy one?

I'm a card-carrying Apple Fanboy going back to the 68k days. But Google Assistant is superior to Siri. And if I'm going to spend more than $100 on a smart speaker; then what I probably want is something like a $30 Google Home mini plugged in to a better sound system. My living-room Hi-Fi has exactly that. I've spent lots of money on speakers to listen to music, I've bought home assistant speaker things; but I'm not the market for this thing. If I'm not; then who is? A small golidlocks niche where the Homepod is just the right amount of quality for the price. Not an audiphile who just wants to hook up a device like that to a better speaker system; not someone who isn't going to appreciate that kind of quality and would balk at the price. Someone for whom this is just right. And in the gadget world; niche doesn't work.

If these things fire-saled I'd be all over it. I'd love to have one. I suspect they're about to get very pricey on eBay; still, I don't think even at the current price it'd be a great deal.
 
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When they announced the HomePod Mini I thought there might be a chance that the HomePod would be discontinued if the Mini sold well enough.
 
I actually wonder why they didn't consider a HomePodTheater that built Apple TV guts into one of the units, connected to the TV with HDMI and maybe wirelessly connected between the two HP's or something.

Lots of interesting ideas there actually.
 
Tev11 said:
HomePod mini is not expensive. It's the same price as Amazon Echo (4th Generation) and Google Nest Audio.
For those of us who are Apple Music enthusiasts, Siri is the best assistant for that (at least in Canada bc AM is not yet available for Google Assistant). Amazon and Apple blame each other for the faulty performance of AM on Amazon speakers.
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Not much of a selling point
 
It's funny how Google also discontinued its equally priced speaker as well - the Google Home Max in December 2020. Guess Apple followed suit as most people are keen on the smaller and cheaper smart assistant variants.
 
adamlbiscuit said:
For those disheartened by the discontinuation of the big HomePod, I'm thinking that this is just step one of a wider plan for the HomePod brand as a whole.

Here's my two cents:

For Apple, the HomePod mini serves as a 'reset' of the HomePod brand.

They're probably looking at the lacklustre performance (by Apple standards that is) of the original HomePod, as great as a product it likely was, and realising they made a few mistakes when it came to marketing it. Therefore I reckon HomePod mini serves as a step back and a fresh start.

Let's face it, most consumers just didn't want to spend that amount of money on an Apple smart speaker when, at that time, Apple had never ventured into the smart-speaker market before. Amazon and Google had pipped them to the post with far more accessible products, and Apple most likely hoped their brand power and sound quality would pull them through. Sadly, it doesn't look like it did.

IMO Apple should have released the HomePod mini first, as the 'regular' HomePod, and then the larger HomePod later on (probably marketed as a 'pro' or 'max' model). They most likely realise this now.

Think of it this way:

Let's say, for example, Apple released the AirPods Max in 2016 as opposed to the 'regular' version we got. People would scoff and say there's not a chance in hell they'd pay that much for a pair of bluetooth headphones.

Apple didn't do this, however. As far as AirPods were concerned they were very smart: release the entry level model first, make it great, make people fall in love with it and want more. Then give them more. Give them the Pro, give them the Max, and they'll lap it up because by that time the AirPods brand will have enough momentum going that people won't mind spending over $500 on a pair of headphones. They won't just be any old headphones after all. They'll be 'AirPods' and that matters hell of a lot.

If the HomePod mini really is as big of a hit as they say it is, expect them to release a few more revisions of it, making it more popular as they go along. Then, like the AirPods, expect to see 'Pro' or 'Max' models, effectively filling the void left by the discontinuation of the big HomePod we've had up till now. I reckon these hypothetical 'Pro' models will end up being far more successful then, because they'll have a strong level of customer loyalty with the HomePod mini, and a lot of momentum to push them forward (like with the AirPods).

EDIT: The more I think of this, the more I think of myself as a suitable example to illustrate my point above. I never had an original HomePod - my first HomePod was the mini. I never even entertained the thought of getting a HomePod, and that's despite being deep in the Apple ecosystem for over ten years. The price was just too high for something I wasn't sure I was going to use to it's full potential.

When the HomePod mini was announced, the £99 price tag was just right. It was cheap enough for me to 'dip my toe in' so to speak. Once I got the HomePod mini, I loved it that much that I had every intention of getting the big HomePod - a product I'd previously written off suddenly came into the centre of my radar.

I was waiting for the HomePod to get refreshed first, knowing the original was getting long in the tooth. We know now that's not gonna happen, but if Apple later announce a 'HomePod Pro' or 'Max' I'll be right on it. And none of that would have been the case if not for the mini.

I'm sure the above scenario will be similar for a lot of consumers.
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It’s a nice and hopeful story you tell, but it is based on the chronology of how Google and Amazon introduced their smart speakers and displays. However, that was not Apple’s intention - they were targeting higher end audio products like those from Sonos and Bluesound (and to a lesser extent those products from traditional audiophile companies that have progressively added voice assistants). The problem is that with the HomePod Apple has the worst assistant in the most expensive platform. Apple should smarten up Siri and then allow it to live in every device imaginable. Seems they might have figured that some openness is beneficial if their move to put tv+ on other manufacturers TVs is anything to judge by.
 
ouimetnick said:
Belkin has a AirPlay 2 streaming device coming soon. MacRumors wrote an article about it. It would be nice if Apple made a HomePod mini with a line out jack to be connected to a high end stereo system (or A/V receiver) or a HomePod mini w/o a speaker and just a line out jack. Make it shaped like a hockey puck or something with a glass top.
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I'm very surprised that it's still not a "thing" that can be bought easily. It only has 3.5mm output (no optical) but Libratone have been selling an airplay 2 device without a speaker and just a line out in China for, like, 2 years. it costs about $50.

O1CN012MctYi21l2T1hxiwJ_!!2657977024.jpg
 
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I'm not surprised.

I didn't have any smart speakers until this year when I bought a new home. I started making smart upgrades left and right -- lights, switches, thermostat, locks, and more. I might not have even considered purchasing a smart speaker, except when I bought an Ecobee, I remembered it had built-in Alexa functionality. It was a feature I initially overlooked for a few months. I used the thermostat directly or through the app.

Well, I finally turned on Alexa one day and tried it out when I was bored. It was so convenient being able to control everything in my home by voice, and with extra features like streaming music, I knew I wanted that functionality for other rooms in my house.

I noticed that 90% of my smart home upgrades were compatible with Alexa, but only about 50% with HomeKit (and it wasn't very intuitive if I decided to go the Apple route). I definitely enjoy Apple's premium product quality, but Alexa was just so much more accessible.

I ended up buying two Echo Dots for a few different reasons. One, for the aforementioned larger range of compatibility. Amazon seems to be dominating with smart devices. Two, because I already had an Alexa device in my Ecobee. And three, for its lower price point. I figured if I didn't like Alexa or if I ended up not using it much, it wouldn't break my wallet. Whereas I didn't feel comfortable shelling out $300 for just one HomePod on an experience I wasn't sure of yet.

If Siri and HomeKit were built into my Ecobee, I likely would have gravitated toward Apple. But it seems apparent Apple is lagging in this arena. Amazon beat them to the punch in my case.
 
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That sucks. 🙁
I definitely prefer the better sound of the full size. Too bad they can’t figure out how to keep it, but at a $199 price point.
 
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