Nooooo I freaking love my HomePod and just got the mini and it really doesn’t compare in sound quality. Was really considering getting a second HomePod for stereo sound but now not so sure, unless Best Buy or someone else does a major sale.
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Apple Discontinues Full-Sized HomePod to Focus on HomePod Mini
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Ugh. That's kind of annoying. I was planning on buying more HomePods and not the minis.
I truly hope my HomePods don't fail in the next couple years. HomePod minis cannot compare in sound.
In case for anyone who wonder why I can't use other smart speakers and other music services:
I truly hope my HomePods don't fail in the next couple years. HomePod minis cannot compare in sound.
In case for anyone who wonder why I can't use other smart speakers and other music services:
- There's no equivalent to iCloud Music Library. I can't ask Google to play locally uploaded songs from Spotify.
- I can upload local music to YouTube Music, but their app is horrid on iOS.
- I don't particularly like Deezer. It takes so long for locally uploaded songs to be synced across my devices.
- Apple Music for Google Assistant is not yet available in Canada so I can't use Google Speakers.
- I could use Alexa-enabled speakers, but from previous experiences, Alexa cannot shuffle Apple Music playlists properly (it plays the first song of the playlist, then shuffles the next few songs before going back to the normal trackless - not sure if that was fixed yet as both Apple and Amazon blame each other for the bug).
- Pandora isn't available in Canada.
- I'm perfectly aware of AirPlay or Bluetooth on alternative speakers, but I don't want the added steps.
A few points:
1. We have no clue about new Apple TV hardware or not. To my knowledge there have been no leaks indicating anything there.
2. When Apple does an announcement like this, a couple weeks before an event, it's actually to clear it out of the news cycle totally so that it's not a story at the event in question.
Doing this announcement now honestly is more indicative of nothing coming down the pipe and them wanting this to make its run around the internet and be mostly "history" in a couple weeks.
3. Final point - Panzarino is well well sourced. When he says they are going to "focus on the HomePod mini", that basically means "that is their play here" - mostly end of story for the foreseeable future.
Apple gets information to folks like him to get those sorts of messages out there and help craft the narrative.
Well that was fast
Apple has discontinued the standard HomePod to focus exclusively on the HomePod mini, reports TechCrunch.
...and in other news, today Microsoft announced they are bringing back the Zune...
I really don’t see the homepod becoming an Apple TV sound bar. It’s just too niche… and it looks like Apple don’t do niche anymore!
It was honestly the #1 reason I was never interested in them for my TV. I do more with my TV than just the Apple TV itself and I was going to need an entire "other" sound solution for non Apple TV content.
Total non-starter -- to say nothing of the longevity concerns, to your point, of having no other input options.
The HomePod was always $150 more than it should have been. Picked one up at launch, was disappointed with what it was for the price, returned it promptly. Picked one up again for $199 on sale, exactly the right price, it's sitting in my office. I feel the same was about the AirPods Max, $150-200 more than they should be, but time will tell if they keep selling after the initial hype and demand is exhausted.
...if any places have a fire sale of the HomePod for $199, I'll pick up a second.
...if any places have a fire sale of the HomePod for $199, I'll pick up a second.
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.
I hope that this is the beginning of a broader trend of price reductions across the entire Apple lineup. So far, the HomePod and iMac Pro have been discontinued, and the Apple Silicon Mac Pro is being reimagined as well, hopefully with a lower price tag to go along with it. For many years, App.e has used high prices to distinguish products form the competition, but this no longer makes sense, and is actually hurting sales. If Apple wants to stay relevant, they will have to increase market share, and a big way to do this is to make products more affordable without sacrificing features or technology. Apple has grown up into a mainstream tech company, like it or not, and they will have to increase sales in order to stay relevant.
Apple has discontinued the standard HomePod to focus exclusively on the HomePod mini, reports TechCrunch. First introduced four years ago, Apple's larger HomePod has never sold well because of its high price tag.
Apple hoped that the HomePod's high-quality sound would give it an edge over competing products, but sales of the HomePod have always been lackluster with so many more affordable options on the market. Apple has been selling the HomePod for $299, but it was originally priced at $350. The HomePod mini is available for $99.
The HomePod mini offers all of the features of the HomePod in a smaller and less expensive package. Many reviews praised the HomePod mini for its sound quality relative to its size, and while it won't quite match the sound available from the HomePod, it features the same Siri integration, Apple Music support, and HomeKit controls.
In a statement, Apple said that the HomePod will continue to be available while supplies last through the Apple Online Store and Apple retail stores.On Thursday, many tech sites noticed that the full-sized space gray HomePod was out of stock in the United States, but it was believed to be just a stock shortage. As it turns out, it was because Apple no longer plans to sell the HomePod.
The space gray HomePod can likely be purchased from third-party retailers, but it is no longer available from Apple, while the HomePod in white continues to be available for purchase as of right now.
Article Link: Apple Discontinues Full-Sized HomePod to Focus on HomePod Mini
There are many things that I appreciate about Apple. I am writing this comment on a MacBook Pro with Retina Display that I purchased in 2012. Why have I kept this machine so long? Because it is of excellent build quality, and the current machines are too expensive to justify buying one at the moment. I look forward to seeing the new Apple Silicon MacBook Pros, and I hope that they will come with a lower price tag without any sacrifices in built quality or features. Apple will not be damaged by lowering prices, actually he opposite will happen. They will increase sales and market share, and will end up making more money on top of it. A win win win situation all the way around!
It's a bummer because the hardware is fantastic. That the mic can clearly hear you speaking softly even while playing music is a freakin' marvel.
The problem I had with it is the UI just seemed buggy and not fully-baked. Handoff was always a chore. Trying to zap something from my phone to the Pod was so laggy and hit-or-miss I usually just use the Pod for Apple Music and nothing else and just go to my JBL bluetooth speaker for everything else because it just connects quickly rather than getting an endless loading-loading-loading then fail when I try to airplay to Homepod.
The other pet peeve is the thing had alarms and I thought it would be wonderful to set it to gradually wake up in the morning with music. ALL the other smart speakers do this, but Homepod has one default alarm sound and nothing else. It's a MUSIC speaker! I was POSITIVE they would add this VERY-COMMON-IN-SMART-SPEAKERS feature in a software update... but nopers.
Finally Siri has actually gotten WORSE. When I ask the homepod for a song or album, maybe 30% of the time she says "I'm sorry, that doesn't appear to be on Apple Music" or something along those lines forcing me to, again, fire up the JBL bluetooth and play the song/album I'm looking for using my Apple Music app from the phone where the music in question CLEARLY IS AVAILABLE.
Lack of support and innovative updates, lack of basic features other smart speakers have, crap Siri, and a price that may be perfectly acceptable for the quality of the hardware but just catches people off guard who are used to seeing smart speakers go for $100 doomed this thing.
The problem I had with it is the UI just seemed buggy and not fully-baked. Handoff was always a chore. Trying to zap something from my phone to the Pod was so laggy and hit-or-miss I usually just use the Pod for Apple Music and nothing else and just go to my JBL bluetooth speaker for everything else because it just connects quickly rather than getting an endless loading-loading-loading then fail when I try to airplay to Homepod.
The other pet peeve is the thing had alarms and I thought it would be wonderful to set it to gradually wake up in the morning with music. ALL the other smart speakers do this, but Homepod has one default alarm sound and nothing else. It's a MUSIC speaker! I was POSITIVE they would add this VERY-COMMON-IN-SMART-SPEAKERS feature in a software update... but nopers.
Finally Siri has actually gotten WORSE. When I ask the homepod for a song or album, maybe 30% of the time she says "I'm sorry, that doesn't appear to be on Apple Music" or something along those lines forcing me to, again, fire up the JBL bluetooth and play the song/album I'm looking for using my Apple Music app from the phone where the music in question CLEARLY IS AVAILABLE.
Lack of support and innovative updates, lack of basic features other smart speakers have, crap Siri, and a price that may be perfectly acceptable for the quality of the hardware but just catches people off guard who are used to seeing smart speakers go for $100 doomed this thing.
Surely they could have updated the HomePod with a new Pricing of $199.
Instead they decide to discontinue it. The Apple A8 inside HomePod isn't going to be supported by next version iOS or tvOS. They could have updated the internal with same stuff HomePod mini. Just the larger size.
According to Wiki, it is estimated to be around 3M unit sold, and that was in 2018. Not bad for every other player on the market but Apple deemed it to be too small.
Instead they decide to discontinue it. The Apple A8 inside HomePod isn't going to be supported by next version iOS or tvOS. They could have updated the internal with same stuff HomePod mini. Just the larger size.
According to Wiki, it is estimated to be around 3M unit sold, and that was in 2018. Not bad for every other player on the market but Apple deemed it to be too small.
This is a great post, and I think you nailed what went wrong with HomePod and what went right with AirPods. Everyone I know has AirPods now. (Literally everyone) Some of them are now talking about and considering the Max ones now because they love their AirPods so much. Will they end up buying them? I don’t know, but at least they’re talking about it. In contrast, I don’t know a single person outside of myself who bought a HomePod. I just talked to my AirPod-wearing girlfriend about it and she didn’t even know what it was, but she can tell you about all the different Google Home and Alexa options.
It’s clear that when it comes to accessories, or at least audio accessories, Apple needs to start off small and grow the product line from the bottom up. You can’t take the iPhone approach and go all out with the most premium option on the (saturated) market, especially when you’re late to the game and virtually everyone already has a smart speaker of some type.
It’s a shame because I do think the full HomePod is a great product and could’ve been even better if they started with the Mini and learned about the market and direction more before going all out.
Edit: Also... I do agree with others that the lack of Bluetooth/line in really didn’t help either. Whereas AirPods can connect to ANY Bluetooth device, and you can connect just about any phone or tablet to Alexa/Google Home, HomePod was stupidly locked into the Apple ecosystem via AirPlay or Siri. I know the Mini is the same way, but at least it isn’t $300+. If you’re charging that much, you really need to do everything your competitors do and then some.
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Because they sell it for longer? I'm really not sure how you came to that conclusion.
Brotha' just paste it in - here, I'll do it for you.
These are the thoughts from @Starfia
The HomePod was one of those rarer things I decided to adopt early, and I wrote a few first impressions when I switched to two HomePod mini after using the original HomePod for a couple of years. In summary: the HomePod mini sounded a little cheaper by comparison, but I stress "by comparison." The original's sound was so "good" – deliberately in quotation marks – as to sound almost alien, inspiring worry I'd disturb my adjacent neighbours with its pristine but unadjustable bass.
It didn't take me long to forget the relative cheapness. Now the Minis just sound good to me (without quotation marks, and with pluralization, since I bought a second Mini before long. And that's the main thing: no matter how good the original got, I think I've confirmed through this transition that stereo anything is better than mono everything, so to speak. At retail, stereo Minis cost 200 USD, and stereo originals cost 600 after Apple's first price cut).
The original was a heartfelt experiment, years in the making. I'm a little surprised it ended this way, but the ending helps confirm that my subjective perception of audio quality may not be so far from some allegedly objective ideal. As John Cleese once said of wine, "don't let anyone tell you what wine you should like."
I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying it seems unlikely Apple will make an entry level product. I wish they would too.There was an iMore story about this in 2019.
But since Apple hasn't released a new Apple TV box since 2017, the data is still relevant. And likely even more skewed at this point
Apple was 2nd to last and likely far in dead last by now with no new hardware. $179+ is too expensive for a set-top box; it was before and especially now when you can Airplay to your TV purchased in the past few years, or $99 4k Roku box (and others out there). And they're a much better streaming service box.
I have never seen anyone use the Apple TV for apps or games in real life. It seems more like a pipe dream plan than reality.
They may "not do the low end," but they need to here. Or go the way of their routers and seemingly now Homepod (which they did for the Homepod which will live on in the Mini).
A sub $50 4k stick and ditch this all-in-one set-top box dream. Maybe a $99 4k box too. it simply isn't working and makes the hardware not worth it for most, as the data shows. The point is to get as many people on their streaming service now with the hardware; not hardware profit from a one-time purchase.
It's also back to that unless you own all Apple products Airplay just isn't the best thing. Stuff like a Chromecast will work with almost any device- laptop, iPhone, Android, Mac, anything.
They are clearly referring to a CPU that typically processes iOS devices. Don't be that person.
After iPod Hi-Fi and now this, never trust Apple with high-end audio I guess.
The mini is good but not as good.
The mini is good but not as good.
