A Clarence Shepard Day Jr. after unveil updated Macs withM2 processors , Apple has astonishingly announce another fresh Cartesian product : the return of the full - size HomePod . The original modeling wasdiscontinuedin March 2021 and was acquire to have sell poorly , making the decision to make a new one surprising , to say the least .
pattern - wise , the new model appears largely unchanged from its predecessor : there ’s no polarity , for example , of the widely rumoredscreen raise , which a confrere points out would have made a fate of sense with Apple Music ’s recently add karaoke lineament . It ’s 4 mm shorter than the original model , and roughly 200 g lighter and Apple says it ’s now made from “ a unseamed , acoustically cobwebby mesh framework . ”
Apple
Apple has n’t even sum any novel colours . Like the original role model , the raw HomePod come in either inglorious ( Midnight ) or ashen , whereas the HomePod mini also offers disconsolate , yellow , and orange . Those extra colors arrived about a year after launch , however , so perhaps the HomePod 2 will get them in due course of instruction .
The hardware inside the attractive cylinder chassis has been upgraded , but not dramatically so from the sounds of Apple ’s pressure release . It supportsThreadand gets an Ultra Wideband chip for machine proximity design , as well as temperature and humidity sensors , but still does n’t get Bluetooth 5.3 or Wi - Fi 6e . One intriguing upgrade , however , is send for Sound Recognition . This is designed to discover sound such as smoke and C monoxide alarms and notify the user about them through an iPhone alert . But this feature wo n’t be available at launch . Apple says Sound Recognition will be add in a software update in spring .
In terms of expected audio recording performance , it does n’t ‘ sound ’ like there ’s much to pick out between the two generations . We ’ll have to test out the fresh HomePod before bear a finding of fact , of course of action , but Apple does n’t claim or seem able to realize any great audio frequency advances : there are two fewer “ horn - loaded tweeter ” and two fewer microphones than the original model , but these things are unlikely to transform the experience for audiophiles . Then again , audio quality was never the problem with the full - size HomePod , which always delivered first-class sound ; the trouble were more related to its cost and the limitations of its smart feature .
Oddly enough , anecdotic evidence suggest that Siri , which in hypothesis should be by far the most convenient way to hold the HomePod , has n’t meliorate since the original HomePod was quit . Perhaps it is but more challenging now , but errors ( such as mishearing the name of a stripe or Sung , or deciding to guess what to play based on a godforsaken mistaking ) seem far more unwashed than in previous yr . If Apple expects the HomePod to be a winner the second meter around , we hope it has budgeted for plenty of time to iron out out Siri ’s problems .
The 2nd - gen HomePod cost $ 299/£299 and will be usable set out February 3 , although you canplace an ordernow . In the U.S. at least , that ’s the same monetary value ask for the original HomePod just before it was discontinued . While the original model cost $ 349 at launching , a price track pretermit it to $ 299 in April 2019 .
See : HomePod vs HomePod minito see how the two models compare .
Apple HomePod (2nd generation, 2023)
