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Apple Discontinues Full-Sized HomePod to Focus on HomePod Mini

kalafalas said:
I absolutely LOVE my HomePod. Such a wonderful and incredible sounding kitchen speaker. Siri is just ok, but I keep it simple to home control and timers and she doesn’t miss for that. I only hope this means a HomePod 2 is in the future with a newer chip etc, I would have already replaced the 3 airport express’s in my house with HomePod minis if they only had a headphone jack, which will never happen but I can dream. They sound good for the size but will never replace my jbl bookshelf speakers, but a large HomePod 2 might.
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Yeah, they might discontinue the HomePod then give it a better chip.
 
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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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cmaier said:
Why?

They didn’t rename MacBook pros and airs when they stopped making MacBooks. They didn’t rename iPod nanos when they stopped making iPods.
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Because the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro are two different models of MacBook. If there were only one model that existed, it most likely would just be called the MacBook.
When the iPod nano was around, it was surrounded by the iPod shuffle, iPod classic, and iPod touch. It was clear that it was a flavor of iPod.
Same with the current lineup of iPad, there is the iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.
Unless they are planning to introduce a HomePod Max, keeping the mini tacked onto the end of the name seems pointless. Just rename it HomePod, and keep everything else the same
 
This really sucks. I have 3 in my apartment and I absolutely love the full, room-filling sound. And the integration with AppleTV saved me loads of money on not having to buy a separate soundsystem. I always thought that when I bought a house down the road, I’d put one in every room. What a shame! Sincerely hope they’ll come up with a good substitute in the coming years. Might have to pick up one or two now ”while supplies last”... :/
 
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TheDailyApple said:
I expect they'll release a hi-end HomePod (i.e. HomePod Max) which will essentially be a replacement for the original HomePod and make the mini the standard model.

No change overall, but better marketing. The original HomePod might have been worth its price, but releasing it first and marketing it as the standard model put it in competition with the Amazon's Echo and Google's Nest instead of it's true competitors like Sonos.
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I totally see this.
 
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A bit unnerving to hear this, especially as I currently have 3 in my home plus 2 minis.

If one dies replacing it with a mini seems a bit meh.... and a bit strange that they have just got atmos and home theatre too seems extremely strange.

I have a feeling we may see the mini change to HomePod and then a HomePod Pro or HomePod Max being released in the distant future, maybe a few years down the line.
 
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Yeah, I don’t see them just discontinuing it.
Maybe updating it with a U1 to match its little brother, or combining it with the Apple TV which would be kind of cool, and probably renaming it HomePod max or something like that, but just dropping it entirely, leaving only the mini? Na
 
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They would only do this if they are not selling that many, which means it was overpriced or wouldn’t fit into most peoples home theater setup aesthetically. I understand it sounded good, especially in pairs, but not many people want to spend that much on two round ball shaped speakers to sit either side of their TV. Most people would rather spend half the price on a conventional shaped soundbar that sits under the TV.
 
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I always found the Homepod lacking for the price. I may have actually purchased one if it had Bluetooth audio support and a line-in, so it would be more versatile.

But as it was, only supporting AirPlay, it felt like a very niche product that I couldn't use with all my hardware. It was a waste because I know they had really good sound.

So I'm not surprised they didn't sell too well. A lot of us here on MR are "all in" on Apple, but most people are not. They might have a Samsung TV they want to be able to use their nice speaker with, or have an Android-using friend want to play music when visiting. I think not having more input options hurt the product.
 
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