Last hebdomad was a officious one for Apple . On Tuesday , we gotnew chips , Mac minis , andMacBook Pros , and Wednesday brought the surprising counter of thefull - sized HomePod , with a similar designing asthe original modelas well as the same $ 299 cost tag end , about two class after it was discontinued .
And when you travail into it , thing get even weirder . The young HomePod is n’t a carbon copy of the original poser , but in pernicious and puzzling ways that wo n’t be all that detectable to anyone buying one . Here are five fact about the raw HomePod that have us scratching our heads :
Apple redesigned it to look the same
At first coup d’oeil ( and 2nd and third ) , the second - gen HomePod seems to be identical to the original model . It has the same rotary dead body , meshwork outside , and concealment , but there are slight difference of opinion . For one , it ’s 4 millimeter shorter and 200 grams lighter . The screen at the top is now somewhat recessed , and the display is larger and easier to see . The “ seamless mesh textile ” from the original model is now “ acoustically transparent mesh framework , ” and stretches a bit more over the top . There ’s a new Midnight color that looks a lot like a slightly darker shade of Space Gray . However , none of the changes will make much of a optic deviation unless you ’re comparing a newfangled one and an old one side by side , so it seems unknown that Apple went through the trouble of redesigning the HomePod in such small ways .
You can’t create a stereo pair with a 1st-gen HomePod
One of the HomePod ’s best feature is its ability to make a stereo pair that “ plays each communication channel in utter harmony , creating a wide-eyed , more immersive soundstage than traditional stereo speakers . ” It ’s not a unexampled feature , but there ’s a catch : You ca n’t pair a raw HomePod with an old one . For a stereo pair to work , you ’ll involve two of the same HomePods : a 1st gen with a 1st gen ; mini with a miniskirt ; 2nd gen with a 2nd gen . It makes logical sense since the two have different specs , but it sure would have been prissy for Apple to fancy out a way to make the two play nicely together .
Foundry
It uses an Apple Watch chip instead of an iPhone one
The original HomePod used Apple ’s A8 central processor , which had debut in the iPhone 6 a few years earlier , as “ the mind behind the forward-looking audio innovations . ” When the HomePod mini come a few years afterward , Apple used an Apple Watch Series 5 ’s S5 chip to “ achieve self-aggrandizing sound out of such a compact designing . ” The 2nd - gen HomePod also habituate an Apple Watch chip , the Apple Watch Series 7 ’s S7 central processing unit , “ to offer even more advanced computational audio frequency . ” That ’s all well and unspoilt , but it ’s intemperately not to think an A12 or A13 would provide a bit of time to come - proofing .
It still has an integrated power cable
One of the original HomePod ’s biggest defect was the integrate power cable — chiefly because people course essay to disconnect it and sometimes ended up ruining their speaker . It ’s possible that Apple changed the connector to stop over that from happening , but base on photos , the HomePod still has the same permanently attached power cable’s length on the rear of the machine . A electrical switch to a magnetic connector like the 24 - inch iMac would have been a nice betterment .
The newfangled HomePod may look very to the old one , but it ’s actually a bit different .
It supports slower Wi-Fi than the iPhone 6
It ’s weird enough that the young HomePod still has Bluetooth 5 alternatively of 5.3 ( as found on new Macs and iPhones ) , but it in reality has dense Wi - Fi than the original model . accord to the tech specs , the first HomePod supported 802.11ac , better bang as Wi - Fi 5 while the newer HomePod uses Wi - Fi 4 ( 802.11n ) . Perhaps it ’s too much to involve for Wi - Fi 6E when the new iPhones do n’t even support it , but we ’re surprised to see the Modern HomePod uses a Wi - Fi standard as honest-to-goodness as the iPhone 4 .
The audio specs appear to be inferior
Here ’s the unknown thing — establish on the audio spec , the new HomePod is n’t as near as the original model . While it for certain “ delivers next - level acoustic ” as Apple claims , a quick compare of the technical school spec testify two fewer horn - load tweeter ( five vs. seven ) and microphones ( four vs. six ) . Of of course , all speakers and microphones are not made the same and audio processing counts for a lot . We ’re confident that Apple will get adequate or better audio out of fewer speakers and mike — but it ’s unusual that Apple did n’t actually say the HomePod 2 is better and even stranger that the old HomePod is seemingly superior to the new one on newspaper .
Apple HomePod (2nd generation, 2023)
If you want to set up a HomePod stereo pair, you’ll need to buy two.
If you want to set up a HomePod stereo pair, you’ll need to buy two.
The new HomePod may look identical to the old one, but it’s actually a bit different.
