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Apple Relaunched the HomePod Two Years Ago Today

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Apple relaunched the HomePod two years ago today, debuting a second-generation model almost five years after the original model's introduction.

2-Years-HomePod-Feature.jpg

The original HomePod was announced at WWDC in 2017 and launched in 2018 after a heavily delayed release. The device was met with mixed reviews; critics praised its outstanding sound quality but pointed out its high price, missing features, and limited functionality compared to rivals.

Apple dropped its price from $349 to $299 in April 2019 and, in March 2021, the company announced that it was discontinuing the first-generation HomePod, instead shifting its focus to the HomePod mini, which launched the previous year. The decision left a gap in Apple's product lineup for a full-sized smart speaker until the company introduced the second-generation model via a press release on January 18, 2023.

The second-generation HomePod looks virtually identical to the original, although it is 0.2 inches shorter and has a larger edge-to-edge LED touchscreen on top. It also boasts a range of upgrades and changes compared to its 2018 predecessor, including the S7 chip, a U1 ultra wideband chip, a removable power cable, a temperature and humidity sensor, and sound recognition. However, it features two fewer microphones and horn-loaded tweeters.

While Apple's potential plans for a third-generation HomePod are unclear two years after the current model was introduced, there are a multitude of rumors surrounding a smart home "command center" product with an LCD touchscreen display arriving this year as Apple looks to rethink its smart home lineup.

Article Link: Apple Relaunched the HomePod Two Years Ago Today
 
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https://www.macrumors.com/2025/02/03/apple-homepod-relaunch-two-years-ago/
I have nine of the original HomePods, and since I got them in 2017, they’ve worked so-so at about 70% reliability. Unfortunately, over the past year and a half, that dropped to around 50%. Meanwhile, my three Google/Nest devices are running at about 90% reliability. I want to stick with Apple, but Tim Cook is making it incredibly difficult. 🤷‍♂️
 
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This is quite possibly the most unreliable product apple has ever released. Constant network issues. Constant misunderstanding of requests and songs and least functionality of any of the smart home speakers. Sounds good when it works though.
 
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I have one old and one new HomePod. I HAD two of the newer Minis as well, but gave them to my friend. I replaced them with Google Nest Mini 2s. I use Google for Smart Home requests since Siri is still a child. I use the HomePods for jamming tunes when in casual listen mode. (aka background music)
 
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...and nobody cared.

Seriously, the HomePod is a fabulous sound system.
But such a dumb smart speaker.

I still have the original HomePod, and I have a love/hate relationship with it. Love : When I listen to music. Hate : As soon as I try to use Siri.

If they can release Siri with an LLM Foundation, and put it on a HomePod, it'll be one of the best products on the market. But latest rumors point towards the same old Siri.
 
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PsykX said:
...and nobody cared.

Seriously, the HomePod is a fabulous sound system.
But such a dumb smart speaker.

I still have the original HomePod, and I have a love/hate relationship with it. Love : When I listen to music. Hate : As soon as I try to use Siri.

If they can release Siri with an LLM Foundation, and put it on a HomePod, it'll be one of the best products on the market. But latest rumors point towards the same old Siri.
Click to expand...
It’s not even that good of a sound system for that price
 
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OG was awesome, great sound. Lovely round bass and crisp highs.

The 2nd Gen was a huge disappointment in comparison. Had to return it as I couldn't listen to it for more than 5 minutes at a time. Sound signature was horrible with no way to adjust it (I know this was the same case as with the OG, but it had a much nice sound in comparison to the nails down a blackboard feel of the 2nd gen).

Mad to think I used to have an home full of Apple Kit and now its just the Mac Studio and Phone.
 
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Digital Dude said:
I have nine of the original HomePods, and since I got them in 2017, they’ve worked so-so at about 70% reliability. Unfortunately, over the past year and a half, that dropped to around 50%. Meanwhile, my three Google/Nest devices are running at about 90% reliability. I want to stick with Apple, but Tim Cook is making it incredibly difficult. 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
This is one of the few Apple products I have never owned. I own 4 home pod minis that I primarily use to control home connected devices. As years pass they seem to become less reliable. I wish Apple would put more focus on software improvements than releasing incremental updates of the same product.
 
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Our black and white pair of original Apple HomePod speakers work fine for us. Sound is great in our living room and we have learned how to get Siri to play music we want. MacTracker claims these can still get updates, but we do not think so.

With fewer speakers inside there was no way the second generation could make the same sound as the first generation. And the mini is even smaller. What a joke.
 
Great sounding speaker for the size... but too locked down. Through my lens: these are the iMac approach to audio... marrying a part that could play and sound great for a VERY long time (the dumb speaker part) to tech "smarts" that will inevitably be vintaged long before the speaker has any issues. Not too long after that, you have to toss the whole thing and buy another... just like tossing a perfectly-good monitor in an iMac.

IMO: speakers should not be married to "smarts"- go separates if you can. Other Apple devices like AppleTV, iDevices and Macs have Siri and the "smarts" in them already. Put the money towards great "dumb" speakers and use the smarts readily available to you in other Apple stuff. You'll likely not have to replace the speaker portion for 20 or 30 years this way. And bonus: if home theater is the target, you can equip yourself well beyond only stereo sound... for very notable upgrades to home theater experiences.

If I really want this kind of thing, I probably opt for Sonos Move 2 instead because it is much more "open", has a built-in battery to make it much more portable, airplay & bluetooth and already has deals with pretty much ALL music providers including Apple Music.

I actually picked up a Move for a bedroom and am quite pleased with it. And before the crowd pours in to gripe about the new app, I just about never even need to use the new app to enjoy it. Instead, I tell Siri to play a Music playlist on it and it plays. While I haven't had ANY issues with the new app, if I did, I could also step to the Mac, fire up the "same old" Sonos app on Mac and do whatever I want to do there.
 
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My replacement unit from 2021 decided to not power up two weeks ago. It's part of the HomePod pairing and having just one HomePod doesn't sound too good.
 
I bought a pair of the second gen last year & found NO sound quality difference in my OG Homepod pair- So I returned them. For music, I greatly prefer Sonos products now.
 
I have better experience with my two HomePods than with my Sonos.
And they sound great!
 
How is the Spotify support on these now days? Can you use Spotify as the default, first-class music service?
 
I bought a couple of these second generation models on a whim and came away very impressed with the sound quality. Something this small and omnidirectional which sounds decent was exactly what I wanted. The reliability is pretty awful, though, and I don't even use any of the so-called 'smart' features. I had to create and install a configuration profile just to get them to reliably connect to the network and – since I use them exclusively as transient AirPlay speakers – they still randomly drop the stream/disconnect for no apparent reason. Sometimes I just have to re-select it in the AirPlay menu, other times I have to reboot the speaker or my phone/Mac just to get it to show back up. I really like these things, I just wish Apple would get them working reliably (and maybe get the management out of the annoying 'Home' application).
 
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A great release with poor record of improvements. Sometimes I think they should have had a near identical model that was also ATV. In this, people get a speaker with their ATV and* encourages them to buy another so they have at least stereo television and music.
 
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