Apple's HomePod Plans: What's in the Works for 2023 and Beyond

[Le0M]

I still fail to see how 300$ is to much for a great speaker. I mean, an iPhone costs three times more, and lasts a lot less.
A homepod might be usable for something like 20 years.

 

[Marshall73]

After the disgrace of the original HomePod and its timebomb power supply I will never buy anything like that from Apple again. I have 4 working units left but they have had Siri completely disabled to avoid overheating like my 2 dead units and they are currently unplugged until I decide whether to keep or sell them on or open and replace or modify the power boards.

 

[pekkapee]

I have two OG HomePods w. AppleTV, connected to my TV's ARC HDMI. They work beautifully as a basic, two-channel home theater setup. As many here have noted, a real surround system with HomePods would be great.

Judging from how much Apple touts spatial audio w. Dolby Atmos, I would bet there is an update coming related to that. Eg. upwards-firing speakers. And if lossless audio is another thing (with separate classical music service) for Apple, then there is a need to have quality speakers, not small cheap ones. So the competition would be Sonos price and quality-wise, not Amazon Alexa or Google Nest.

 

[Abstract]

If these “Insiders” knew anything, we would have had an updated HomePod with an updated A10 processor 3-4 years ago, plus a higher-end speaker, a soundbar, etc.

None of those rumors came true because these insiders don’t know anything at all regarding Apple’s plans.

Many of the current rumors are the same rumors you heard in 2020. These Insiders’ guesses will eventually be right, but mainly because it’s inevitable that Apple releases new products at some point, and often they will overlap with an existing rumor. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Literally can’t miss.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I never went down the HomePod route for my smart speaker system. I felt they were priced a bit too high and I was put off by the fact Siri is appallingly inaccurate. Great sound, but poor in use. Apple with its neglect of Siri and out of touch pricing have lost out massively in this market. The likes of Google and Amazon have developed a much better system and targeted the mass market with sensibly priced devices.

 

[hagar]

Make it compatible with non-iPhones.

The biggest downfall of the OG was it only worked with iPhones and Apple Music. They fixed the latter.

 

[Beefbowl]

Using two original HomePods as a speaker pair in the living room. Long since gave up on Siri to be anything more than charmingly useless, but the speakers sound great and do a good enough job of fooling me into thinking I have surrounds. Upgraded my Apple TV just for the ARC functionality so I really hope Apple brings back the bigger speakers before one or both of these dies.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Totally different products. One is a great sounding self-adjusting bookshelf speaker and the other is a small cheap communications device poor for music sound quality.

The mass market aren’t worried about sound quality though when they’re using it to listen to the radio in the kitchen or for background music while at a party or doing the housework. Apple brought the HomePod mini out at a time when they’d lost significant martlet share to Amazon and Google and hoped a £99 speaker would compete against similarly priced alternatives. Not sure it convinced people to switch.

Another disaster Apple made with the original HomePod was the arrogant approach they had to third party streaming services. They only allowed Apple Music and that effectively drove people away. Paying £300+ for a smart speaker that was restricted to Apples own services was a hard sell when many iPhone users out there use Spotify and Amazon Music. Looking back, Apple stumbled at every hurdle.

 

[Will Co]

I’m sure it will sound and look great but for pity’s sake please get multiroom audio working reliably and give Siri a complete overhaul. It’s barely functional compared to the competition.

 

[YankeeSR23]

I love my cookies & crème pair of original HomePods (black & white); my biggest complaint is that when I had them as audio output for my Apple TV they’d be about a second out of sync audio wise with twitch and I’d had to somehow fix it in settings by syncing when the twitch app was open. Another issue I had was the ads in the YouTube app were of fluctuating levels of audio so if I was watching a video late at night the ad might get super loud and I didn’t want to wake other people up so I’d have to grab the remote and quickly hit the mute button.

 

[Ashbash75]

I predict Siri will still be rubbish, well into 2024 too.

 

[ian6969]

Almost 5 years old, and still doesn’t play the UK’s most popular radio stations (unlike the Google and Amazon alternatives). I’ll buy one when it does - and I’m sure I’m not the only person in the UK thinking this.

 

[Sooby]

They’ll need to do something special to beat out Sonos in this product category. Sonos speakers offered much better functionality than the og homepods and a stereo pair of Sonos Ones sounded better than one Homepod for around the same price if I remember correctly.

 

[LeeW]

Totally different products. One is a great sounding self-adjusting bookshelf speaker and the other is a small cheap communications device poor for music sound quality.

Totally different products? There is a revelation. My point still stands, the original HP didn't sell well. The alternate product has.

 

[beanbaguk]

I bought two original HomePods back in the summer as speakers for my office, and they are phenomenal, but I will agree they occasionally glitch and while that isn't great, it isn't enough to bother me.

I also bought my son a HomePod Mini for Christmas, but I will agree, the only way I see future success from Apple with these products is to reduce the pricing to remain competitive with Amazon and Google (which btw, for the 20eur I spent for a dot, sound fantastic and offer huge value).

Over here in Europe, the HomePod Mini sets you back 95eur, so unless you have money, HP cannot compete with Amazon as they literally give away their devices.

Example: Earlier this year, I bought an Echo Dot PLUS two Hue Ambiance bulbs for just 20eur. The bulbs alone sell for more than 20eur and quite honestly, I only bought the device for the bulbs. The dot remains in a box.

Apple, literally have to halve the price of the HomePod to get competitive in the market, but it does sound better than the rest; However for 99.9% of the population, that isn't essential enough.

 

[yeak]

But you fail to grasp the critical reality: Every time Apple ventured into something in our life, that thing had increased competence.

Steve will demand the engineers to build great product but not exceeding certain budget. That’s a real competence.

 

[DrJR]

I had two of the original HomePods and both were dead within 2 years. Garbage. As useless as iPod Socks. That was expensive.

 

[B4rbelith]

I just want to be able to use a HomePod as a blue tooth speaker without having wifi. I don’t own one but would buy one if I didn’t have to have Wi-Fi.

You can use HomePods without wifi, but only using Apple devices.

 

[B4rbelith]

I still fail to see how 300$ is to much for a great speaker. I mean, an iPhone costs three times more, and lasts a lot less.
A homepod might be usable for something like 20 years.

Pearls before swine pal.

 

[stocklen]

I bought two original HomePods back in the summer as speakers for my office, and they are phenomenal, but I will agree they occasionally glitch and while that isn't great, it isn't enough to bother me.

I also bought my son a HomePod Mini for Christmas, but I will agree, the only way I see future success from Apple with these products is to reduce the pricing to remain competitive with Amazon and Google (which btw, for the 20eur I spent for a dot, sound fantastic and offer huge value).

Over here in Europe, the HomePod Mini sets you back 95eur, so unless you have money, HP cannot compete with Amazon as they literally give away their devices.

Example: Earlier this year, I bought an Echo Dot PLUS two Hue Ambiance bulbs for just 20eur. The bulbs alone sell for more than 20eur and quite honestly, I only bought the device for the bulbs. The dot remains in a box.

Apple, literally have to halve the price of the HomePod to get competitive in the market, but it does sound better than the rest; However for 99.9% of the population, that isn't essential enough.

since when has any apple device been priced aggressively to sell?
Never. Thats not how they do business.

I don't think they would be interested in giving their products away at cost just to saturate the market which is exactly what Amazon have done.

Apple devices will always have that 'apple tax' and always be 'reassuringly expensive' however there is no denying their quality - you mostly get what you pay for in terms of hardware. The HomePod minis only sold in numbers due to the magic under '100' (dollars, pounds etc) price, sure - and arguably a new version of the OG HomePod will have to be cheaper than it used to be in order to sell. I don't see it being successful if it's triple the cost of the mini. They will still have an issue when comparing audio quality and for many people the minis are good enough.

Ive always wondered who buys the amazon echo dot, in preference to the standard echo - the audio quality is much better on the standard echo and its not really all that much more money - both are still under 100.

Apple are touting their smart home - and with Matter this removes some barriers but ironically increases choice. Apple therefore want people to be all in on Siri and their Home app - and right now they are still glitchy and need a lot of work.. however are far more promising than others out there such as Alexa - if only they could get that reliability.

Apple will never 'halve' the price of their products - but they will make them far more attractive, compelling, and almost worth the price they will ask for them.


Personally I ditched a house full of Alexas to replace them with HomePod minis and one second hand OG HomePod.
The setup has been very unreliable - although apparently I 'have too many' (6 minis and 1 OG - 4 minis as 2 stereo pairs) which is just ridiculous but thats another story....
BUT - although the audio quality of the OG HomePod is undeniably good - I am pleasantly surprised at how good the minis are, especially when in a stereo pair. You also have to bear in mind that if Apple expect you to have multiple HomePods (fix the software please!) - then the OG HomePod or its replacement really isn't needed in many situations - minis are often far more realistic in the kitchen, bedroom, study etc - and the OG HomePod more suited to the living room.

 

[Yorkieray]

My HomePod Mini is great, but the need to plug it into the mains power to use it around the house has limited it's use for me.
A weather proof, portable HomePod would be an instant buy for me.

 

[Wanted797]

I'd pay extra for a Homepod Mini with a rechargeable battery and cable that could be disconnected. I often want to have the Homepod out in my garage but don't want to leave it there permanently. A little more portability would be a great design upgrade.

Yep same. I’ve had a Harmon Kardon Onyx for years. It sounds good but is cumbersome and switching Bluetooth pairing with devices gets messy.

I have a HomePod mini and I love how easy it is. It’s also small I’d love to place it on my bench while I’m prepping dinner. Usually I have to bring the HK out. A little battery mini that just easily paired to my phone/iPad would be awesome.

 

[stocklen]

Yep same. I’ve had a Harmon Kardon Onyx for years. It sounds good but is cumbersome and switching Bluetooth pairing with devices gets messy.

I have a HomePod mini and I love how easy it is. It’s also small I’d love to place it on my bench while I’m prepping dinner. Usually I have to bring the HK out. A little battery mini that just easily paired to my phone/iPad would be awesome.

though I don't think Apple will bring out such a thing...
have you seen the battery docks you can get? might be just what you are looking for there.

 

[russell_314]

I wish Apple had never eliminated the original Larger-size Home Pod. Hopefully, they make a comeback in 2023.

This so much. I would have bought one if they were available.

Apple really needs to work on Siri if they want to make the HomePods work. I don't care how good the speaker is or how good the Home app is, if Siri doesn't understand basic commands and can't respond accordingly, it's useless. I don't know what Google does, but they've got Apple beat hands down when it comes to the AI

 

[djplong]

Being able to make a surround sound system would be nice, indeed. And since it supports Matter, why not make a version that acts as a point for a mesh wifi system?