Only with the Apple reality distortion field could a speaker with substantially reduced components sound “largely the same” as the prior model. Same reason the AirPods Max don’t support true lossless playback: People can’t tell the difference anyway, it’s a myth, Apple makes it so therefore it’s already perfect and stop asking questions.
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New HomePod Delivered to One Lucky Customer Two Days Early
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I think it’s a combination of this (choosing the wrong model to lead to market first) and the tech stack inside the OG HomePod.
I imagine that Apple felt pressure with the first HomePod and knew that Siri wasn’t up to the task. They probably felt the small “cheap” speaker wouldn’t do enough to wow on sound quality and wouldn’t hold up to competitors in smarts. So they decided to position the first gen as a premium audio device and priced it accordingly, downplaying the smart speaker aspects. Now we see that the mini has been able to generate a fan base of both music lovers and smart home enthusiasts, and is instead acting as a bridge to people wanting more of the HomePod experience. They released the products in the wrong order (and I think we might see it again with their next major product announcement, but that’s for another day and another thread).
Another major factor was the A8 chip. I believe it was the very last device to use an A8 chip and I have a feeling producing those legacy chips isn’t a top priority for a company that has been systematically aligning all of its devices to the same general silicon for the last 3 years. Apple also discontinued remaining products that were using the A8 when they updated the iPod Touch that had been ignored for years to the A10 and last year when they discontinued the Apple TV HD.
I know a lot of folks claiming the “defects” as another reason. While this alleged “fart of death” might be a factor, we have 5 original HomePods in our home that were all purchased close to release and have experienced zero reliability issues. *knocks on wood*
TLDR - there are many factors here and many things can be true at once.
I’m glad the HomePod is back, but I really hope to see Apple push harder into the smart home with more innovative solutions.
I think it’s possible that the lack of sales was just at the original $350 price, and Apple bit the bullet and lowered it to $300, reducing profits just to move units and empty remaining inventory. And perhaps with the new HomePod, Apple figured out how to create comparable sound using less hardware (two less tweeters and mics) so that it can remain priced at $300 and still be profitable enough for them.
That would be nice. But Apple does have a pattern of offering colors for only lower end devices for some reason. But maybe they’ll come out with new colors down the road to combat slowing sales.
I got 2 for my dad for father's day back in 2020 and he's loved them ever since! He really hasn't had any problems with it except for Siri saying the "one moment", "hold on" spiel 
I’m just glad to see there is still interest in this category. Congrats to the Canadian….wonder if they’ll add another shortly 😬
Don't forget about the article that comes out the day before too. I'm sure we'll see another one tomorrow about how the new HomePod and MacBook Pros are now arriving to customers in New Zealand and Australia, when most of the world is still a day behind.
I guess just like the second generation AirPods Pro with its significant upgrades despite looking basically the same, it was worth it to wait for the improved/fixed version of the OG HomePod.
Do we think that this is the only person who bought one?
I am excited to (hopefully) pick up two, white HomePods on Friday at the Apple Store. I was disappointed when they were discontinued. I loved the OG HomePod and am glad it is back. The discontinued 2021 OG would cost $322 adjusted for inflation, so in reality there has been a price drop.
This has got to be the first time Canada Post has ever delivered anything early.
I still have my original boxeshaha... It's my thread. I'm definitely no one of importance. Just some dude who got his HomePod early lol.
Different box
. I’m a hoarder like that.
I’ve got two minis and even with the stereo pairing I want better sound so I ordered a midnight new HomePod. If it meets expectations then I’ll get another.
"Substantially reduced components" seems to be a little ignorant of how this wound influence sound. If you're alluding to the change from 7 to 5 tweeters, for example, I've seen speakers costing >$100k built with only one tweeter. The change to a less powerful chip is unlikely to make much change in sound quality. Maybe you could elaborate on what you mean by substantially reduced components.
Nice! So jelly. At least I should have mine for the weekend to listen to superb audio through my 
TV - 4K (gen 2) while streaming HBO and AMC movies.
TV - 4K (gen 2) while streaming HBO and AMC movies.
HomePod Ultra I say! It’ll incorporate a subwoofer, and you’ll be able to buy optional wheels for it.
The new HomePod may sound worse than the OG, but we’re not going to know that just from the removal of two tweeters. There are other factors to sound quality like the quality of speaker components and computer processing. These other factors may have been improved with the new HomePod enough to compensate for the two less tweeters. Or they might not.
Your linked video is just one data point among others that don’t all come to the same conclusion. (This reviewer gave his own conclusion along with offering the viewer a chance to make their own conclusion, but there’s too much wrong with viewers trying to do A/B sound comparisons over Youtube.) One data point (ie. person’s opinion) isn’t really proof. To come to a reasonable conclusion we would need one of probably two proofs: a general consensus among qualified audio experts, or simply an in-person firsthand blind test. And actually the latter is the only true “proof”, since sound quality becomes very subjective after a certain point. So it’s simply too soon to truly know, but we can truly know soon enough.