Smaller, Lower-Priced HomePod Appears Increasingly Closer to Launching

[MacRumors]

Apple is rumored to have a smaller, lower-priced HomePod on deck for later this year, and there are increasing signs that the new model could be on the horizon.

In addition to Best Buy offering the HomePod on sale for $199.99 this week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman notes that Apple employees are now able to purchase up to 10 HomePods at a 50 percent discount, up from a limit of two. The larger purchase limit could be part of Apple's efforts to clear out inventory of the current HomePod ahead of the new model.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1262393215870816257

In addition, the HomePod was listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the United States last week, although only briefly.

Over the last few years, Apple has been steadily making the HomePod more useful by adding features such as Handoff support, multi-user voice detection, ambient sounds, and multi-room audio, but Siri is still widely criticized. To that end, Gurman previously noted that the smaller HomePod will coincide with Siri improvements later this year.

At launch in 2018, the HomePod cost $349, but Apple reduced the price of the speaker to $299 in April 2019. Apple has never disclosed HomePod sales, instead grouping the speaker under its "Wearables, Home, and Accessories" category.

While the HomePod is positioned as a premium speaker, it has several low-priced competitors on the smart assistant front, including the Amazon Echo and Google Home, which can often be purchased for as little as $25. Apple's smaller HomePod will likely have two tweeters, down from seven in the current model, according to Gurman's previous reporting.

Article Link: Smaller, Lower-Priced HomePod Appears Increasingly Closer to Launching

 

[thadoggfather]

I guess I wonder, will it be better than the heavily discounted 'OG' HomePods? Since those have hit $199 many times at this point (the sweet spot imo)

edit- looks like its $199 @ Best Buy right now actually

I got mine at the first wave of that, price matched from Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) over at Best Buy lol

Its one they explicitly honor oddly enough, and it was like a year and a half ago now I made the move.

Great sound quality, its all I want out of an AirPlay speaker. Still wouldn't pay a penny more for it though. I said when HomePod came out "at $199 I'll bite" so these would need to hit that, and hopefully cheaper on sale, to be a success imo

 

[Pupi]

Too bad in Europe their price is basically immutable. No discounts no nothing. I wouldn’t mind grabbing a couple more otherwise.

Maybe after it’s discontinued.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

I got mine at the first wave of that, price matched from Nebraska Furniture Mart over at Best Buy lol

Lmao! I just can't help but chuckle at that. This must be under their local store price match policy. That's hilarious.

 

[Slippery Gimp]

It’s a shame this hadn’t happened a year or two ago, since we’ve got Alexa’s up and downstairs now.

 

[Amplelink]

This sounds less like a "mini" HomePod and more like a complete replacement. Otherwise, why bother clearing out inventory unless you know that the new version is going to severely hamper sales of the old version. I don't recall Apple ever marking down a product by this much?

I have three of these now. Maybe the new one isn't a Mini at all, but the same thing with better hardware. I can't imagine how they'd make the hardware much better though. The real issue is ......... Siri. Or maybe the next one will have built-in Bluetooth?

 

[oilers780]

I get that Apple is more privacy friendly, but can a HomePod Mini really go up against Amazon's Echo Dots and Google's Home Minis? They have the better AI assistant and are pretty cost effective.

 

[ersan191]

Hopefully alongside Siri 2 at WWDC

 

[Osamede]

“Smaller, lower priced” basically means the audio quality goes down towards Bluetooth speaker/“digital personal assistant” territory. Unless Apple is going to launch a subwoofer to go along with these things.
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I get that Apple is more privacy friendly, but can a HomePod Mini really go up against Amazon's Echo Dots and Google's Home Minis? They have the better AI assistant and are pretty cost effective.

They are cheaper because they are personal data honeypots. So the only way Apple can “compete” there is by selling its soul - and your privacy - down the river.

 

[ouimetnick]

Another Tim Apple flop. $350 for a speaker with no auxiliary input or Bluetooth and locked to Apple Music and Siri. Tempted to buy 2 at $199 and move my dedicated stereo out of my bedroom. It would work for me since I can AirPlay my iTunes library with lossless high res audio files.
I’ll wait till they drop below $200

If I worked at Apple, I’d buy 10 at $150 a pop and sell 8 of them for profit.

 

[NRubino]

Once it allows me to double it as a sound bar for my TV (not only Apple TV) then I'm in. Until then, I'll pass.

 

[benshive]

$199 is a steal for the original HomePod if you're in it more for the quality of the speakers and less for a powerful virtual assistant. Sound-wise it competes with the Google Home Max that launched at double the price.

 

[dwaltwhit]

It’s a shame this hadn’t happened a year or two ago, since we’ve got Alexa’s up and downstairs now.

Agree 100%. We have accumulated 6 echo devices. I would have been a buyer at the $120 price of a homepod air, but now I have no need.

 

[Poindexter333]

I admit to buying into the whole digital hub system, and currently have a stereo pair which love. I must state that I’m an audiophile that used to collect lots of gear but no longer do so due to “Economic” downsizing.

I still have a serious 2-channel stand-alone audio system but really hope that the new, second gen. HomePod can serve as surround speakers and totally work together with the original pair, so I can completely avoid running speaker wiring. I’ll be pissed if they all don’t mesh well.

 

[eatrains]

Another Tim Apple flop. $350 for a speaker with no auxiliary input or Bluetooth and locked to Apple Music and Siri. Tempted to buy 2 at $199 and move my dedicated stereo out of my bedroom. It would work for me since I can AirPlay my iTunes library with lossless high res audio files.
I’ll wait till they drop below $200

If I worked at Apple, I’d buy 10 at $150 a pop and sell 8 of them for profit.

How long did the iPod Hi-Fi last?

 

[kurosov]

This sounds less like a "mini" HomePod and more like a complete replacement. Otherwise, why bother clearing out inventory unless you know that the new version is going to severely hamper sales of the old version.

If a new model does release it's very likely they'll silently update the original as well, simply to retire the A8 chip production, Which in only being used in the HomePod now.

They don't need the spec bump but they could be using newer chips that didn't meet QC for products that need all the cores/graphics capabilities which would reduce both production cost and waste.

If this is the case it makes sense to clear inventory rather than continue producing the A8 if such a change is close.

 

[MarkAtl]

Agree 100%. We have accumulated 6 echo devices. I would have been a buyer at the $120 price of a homepod air, but now I have no need.

I’ve got even more than 6. I was an early adopter and got the first gen before public release, and have been upgrading over time to Echo Show 5’s as an alarm clock. They’re awesome as home “intercom” systems.

I also have an investment in Sonos so there is literally zero need for the HomePod for me.

 

[gMac]

The new HomePod = smaller & cheaper. HomePod Pro = replaces the existing model at a premium price with updated sound? Maybe Siri updates too?

 

[The Game 161]

Least it sounds like improved Siri but not sure what that means...

 

[Bswails]

“Smaller, lower priced” basically means the audio quality goes down towards Bluetooth speaker/“digital personal assistant” territory. Unless Apple is going to launch a subwoofer to go along with these things.
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They are cheaper because they are personal data honeypots. So the only way Apple can “compete” there is by selling its soul - and your privacy - down the river.

so you think In order for Apple to compete they would have to do this? I’ve seen several articles about Apple buying companies who focus on privacy and AI..I’m hoping that it can be done but it is just taking some time

 

[Analog Kid]

My only real complaint is that I can’t get a stereo pair to work as an Airplay target... I can set a single unit up and share to devices not on its network, but I can’t seem to do that with a pair.

 

[Nimoy]

HomePod mini sounds like a no-brainer. What's more interesting is the idea of improving the hardware of the main HomePod. Hard to imagine improving the sound by much. A faster chip wouldn't seem to make a material difference (it's already fast). What else could they do?

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

the new model has to have a user interface, its an abstract object for the everyday people

 

[NewUsername]

Too bad in Europe their price is basically immutable. No discounts no nothing. I wouldn’t mind grabbing a couple more otherwise.

Maybe after it’s discontinued.

Exactly… in Europe it's 329 euro which is 359,02 US dollar. Even though in Europe this includes VAT, that's still a lot for a speaker, and there's no way you can get a discount.

 

[baryon]

I think they should support more languages, like Google.