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2023, second generation HomePod.
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Here is an x-ray.
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You can pair two of them to use them as stereo speakers with your Apple TV 4K.
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As previously reported, Apple today announced the launch of a new second-generation HomePod smart speaker for $299 in a similar design to the first-generation HomePod from 2018.
This new model is a comeback for the HomePod, which was discontinued in 2021 after struggling in the market despite a price cut.
Critics and users believe that while the HomePod provides exceptional sound quality and great ease of use within the Apple ecosystem, its inability to play elegant non-Apple content, Siri’s limitations compared to Alexa or Google Assistant, and the high The price of the speaker made it unattractive compared to more affordable smart speakers from Sonos, Amazon or Google.
Apple went on to sell a cheaper cousin of the HomePod called the HomePod mini, which performed better but still didn’t dominate the market.
As far as we can tell from what Apple has said so far, the new full-sized HomePod doesn’t do much to change its place in the market as far as the big complaints about its predecessor go. However, it adds a bunch of features. Some of them are familiar from the HomePod mini, but others are new.
Most notably, it supports the Thread wireless protocol and the Matter smart home standard, which was arguably the star of the show at CES earlier this month. Recently, Apple has been pushing smart home functionality into its product line. To that end, HomePod has humidity and temperature sensors that can be used in our smart home automation streams. (The HomePod mini has technically always had this capability, and it’s now enabled for this device as well.) Later, it will also be able to detect carbon monoxide and smoke alarms, but that feature is coming in a future software update.
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Apple’s announcement video for the second generation HomePod.
The new speaker includes Apple’s S7 chip, which we previously saw in the Apple Watch Series 7. In some other ways, however, it’s a distinctly inferior version of its predecessor. There are five tweeters, down from seven on the 2018 model, and five microphones, also down from seven. It’s unclear how much of a difference this will make, though, given that the HomePod’s audio prowess is as much about computing as anything else.
The second-generation HomePod is available in white and an adjacent black color called “midnight”. It is priced at $299 and is available to order. The first units will be delivered to buyers on Friday, February 3. HomePod mini 2020 remains in Apple’s product line for $99.
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