HomePod Everlasting

It’s baaaaccckkk…

I am so confused. Nearly two years ago, Apple killed off the HomePod. The move, while undoubtedly embarrassing for Apple, also made sense. It was a $300+ smart speaker in an era of $30 smart speakers. To their credit, Apple moved relatively quickly to launched the HomePod mini, their $99 version of the device, which is roughly the equivalent of $30 for Apple. Here’s how they announced the discontinuation at the time:

HomePod mini has been a hit since its debut last fall, offering customers amazing sound, an intelligent assistant, and smart home control all for just $99. We are focusing our efforts on HomePod mini. We are discontinuing the original HomePod…

And now those focused efforts on the HomePod mini have led to… a relaunch of the HomePod.

Is it a significantly upgraded version at a better price? Nah, not really. It’s slightly smaller and slightly lighter. But that’s mainly because Apple has also reduced the number of tweeters and microphones in the device. Yes, it has an upgraded processor. But it’s a processor found in the Apple Watch (the S7) instead of the iPhone-focused chip found in the previous version (the A8). It has a slightly upgraded screen. But also a downgraded WiFi chip? It can tell the temperature, but the HomePod mini can also now do that. There’s a new ‘Midnight’ color, which as everyone knows, is just marketing for a very similar black/gray to the original model. It’s $299, which is the same price the original was discounted to after it failed to sell well at $349.

It’s just… weird.

Perhaps it was supply chain/chip pricing issues that did in the original HomePod. But again, the statement at the time sure seemed to point to a strategy error which Apple made and had rectified (as much as they were willing to) with the HomePod mini. Some people weren’t happy with the discontinuation as it was a good speaker (I have one, it does sound great!), but again, the move seemed to make sense. And now Apple has stopped making sense again.

Had Apple relaunched the HomePod as a mesh device and a new AirPort, that would have made sense! Or with a screen — especially if it had a camera and could do FaceTime; would have loved it. Or how about just even different skins/shells? Sign me up. But this? This is… the same device with a better BOM? Apple will never, ever, ever admit it, but presumably it will sound ever so slightly worse than the original given the speaker downgrades. I suppose Siri has gotten better with time, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the speaker.¹

And so I say again, this is just… weird.

It seems like Apple has a lot of other irons in this particular fire. Though none are ready yet, so perhaps Apple just wanted to signal their intent. But it also just feels a bit like Apple has once again failed to read the living room, despite having all the pieces in place to do so. So what’s the point? If they wanted to sell the notion of pairing the device with another for great studio sound, which they’re going out of their way to tout, why not sell a package of two at a slight discount? Well, because why sell two at a discount when you can sell two at twice the price? Or how about a more premium speaker that touts higher fidelity Apple Music but for $199? Good idea. But that will be $299. The Apple way.

The (re)release video is cool though.

¹ Though she will, apparently, respond faster, thanks to the updated chip inside. That’s good, as she was a bit slow on the original HomePod.