“Today is Apple’s HomePod day!” Evan Niu writes for The Motley Fool. “One product perched at the high end of the spectrum may not be enough to make a dent in the market. Apple really needs to launch a more affordable smart speaker that’s not tailored to audiophiles, so consumers can buy multiple units to place all around their homes without breaking the bank.”
“The Mac maker might do just that,” Niu writes. “Rosenblatt analyst Jun Zhang has just put out a research note (via Tech Trader Daily) suggesting that Apple could have a more affordable HomePod in the pipeline.”
“Zhang believes that the company is planning on launching a more affordable HomePod as early as this fall at a retail price point of $150 to $200,” Niu writes. “If the company were to start moving downmarket, $150 to $200 is probably as low as it would go. Apple doesn’t like to compete solely on price, and tends to still position itself at a premium even when releasing more affordable products.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Once Apple gets multi-room and stereo paring up and running, they’ll be ready to move downmarket with ‘HomePod mini.’
Would you be interested? We could see, for example, having HomePods in the living room and “HomePod mini” units in the bedrooms.
Interns: Ready, set, GO! TTK!
Prost, everyone!
The reason mini’s work for Google and Amazon is because the AI is the primary mover for their speaker lines and they can connect to better speakers. Apple would either have to shrink the HomePod and somehow maintain audio quality or add an audio out and rely on ‘inferior’ speakers to pair with their mini.
Siri and locked into Apple = I won’t be buying HomePod, not that I have or see much use for Smart Speakers in their current form anyway.
… okay? You came to complain about something you don’t actually care about, so, why would we care?
I’ve been testing the new home pod. Sounds really good, but not amazing. I’d like to see a HomePod Max, that’s about 2/3 times the size of this one. Also, I’d like to see a 5-7 channel Dolby surround option with the AppleTV.
Sorry I meant 2 to 3 times the size. Not 2/3rds the size. Oops.
In a few months you can buy a second HomePod and pair it with the first one. Problem solved…
Slamm’s problem is not really solved by multiple HomePods if you’re interested in low frequencies, but in this age of small speakers, bluetooth – and even the earlier CD tech lacked the sonic range of vinyl LPs – maybe 20Hz or anything close to it doesn’t really matter to the great majority, as people have gotten used to accepting the first harmonics of low frequency sounds as the real thing….
…and, of course, most people have never owned gear that accurately reproduced sound below 50 or even 80 Hz…..
Agreed! I would definitely be interested in HomePod Max/ HomePod Pro/ HomePod+!
Wonder if the Max would be the size of an ottoman. 😀
That was good!
Apple has plans for a HomePod Max. You simply buy two and pair them together. Available this spring.
I’d have to agree, in part, with you… HomePod is nice and it sounds good but not amazing as it’s been made out to be this past week. I’m shocked that Siri seems to be working very well and that is coming from someone who says every time Siri is horrible and, on my phone it is.. It sounds nice but no where near the quality of a good home system so a mini better just be for Siri as there is no way it could sound great in a smaller size.
2-3 times the size and a direct audio input (to eliminate the latency problem associated with wireless audio, rendering video playback useless in my use case).
Sadly, it takes about 10x the power to get twice the volume, which is what the HP would really need to do really good bass. They could sell a separate subwoofer to handle that issue, though. If they can wireless sync AirPods, why couldn’t they get the latency issues right with the HP?
Of course they are. Hell it’s probably already finished. Meanwhile Jony and his elves are working on more stuff that’s years down the road. Jeff Bezos is sadly mistaken if he thought Apple would surrender this space to him.
I’ll tell you who else is mistaken: all the clown analysts like the jackass I saw on Stuart Varney this morning who think HomePod is “too late” and “too expensive.” How many times does this have to play out before they understand that nobody can beat Apple at anything that involves both hardware and software?
And you think Bezos is resting on his laurels waiting for Apple to catch up? They’re pressing on everyday so Apple better keep pace and right now that ain’t likely. Bezos is tying people in to Amazon with Prime, the Echo, and a great shopping experience. Apple doing the same with the ecosystem and a great phone.. Both companies are accomplishing the same thing in a different way. Right now, Bezos has it as he is much ore aggressive than any of the folks at Apple.
Bezos doesn’t stand a chance.
I used to be up on everything around here. A few years as a few kids later, I’m now needing an interpretation of these common MDN phrases:
“Interns: Ready, set, GO! TTK!
Prost, everyone!”
Haha:
1. TTK = Tap that keg
2. Prost, everyone! = Cheers! in High German.
MDN = MacDailyNews
You are here –> ★
Chocolate starfish?! Say it ain’t so, Late Registrant!
I was not all that impressed with the HP right out of the box. Placed in the middle of the room, The HP would not hold a candle to my $2000.00 system. I let it play at a low volume the rest of the afternoon to break it in (my line of thought). It is now evening; moved the HomePod against a wall in the center of the space, and cranked it up. WOW! What a difference. I am now hearing things I did not before. I am very pleased. Probably waves reflected off the wall giving a fuller, more expansive sound. I can now see two HomePods playing together in stereo giving my hi-if system a run for its money,
First of all, it’s simple physics. You put a speaker against a wall in you’re operating in ½ space rather than full space. That means right off the bat you’re getting 3 dB more volume. Also, you’ve reduced room reflections a considerable amount producing considerable less phase errors and reverberant problems in the room (I am assuming that the HP is smart enough to cut the sound to the tweeters going straight into the walls — you don’t want the reflected [and muffled] sound from those tweeters interacting with those beaming directly at you).
I had the same issue with my drum set: originaly placed in the middle of the room, it had almost no bass coming from the kick drum, so I had to mic it to boost the lows. But when I moved it into a corner, the bass response was excellent.
Based on some technical reviews the HomePod actually appears to require a wall close by to reflect off of to create ‘virtual’ sound objects emulating dual speakers. Not sure what happens if the wall is somewhat sound absorbent.
Serves you right for buying Hewlett Packard. Shame on you, Empty Tank!
Hope it works better than the iPad Pro keyboard that does not work with the iPad Pro. “This Accessiry does not work with this device.” Now that Apple is making products that are deliberately designed not to work, it’s about time to dump Apple products!
I care less about HomePod Mini.
Where is our Mac Mini, or iPad Mini, or even iPhone Mini (SE2) if Apple want to play “Mini” game?
I’ll be interested once it’s truly wireless, I don’t need a device tethered to a power cord. My next speaker will be replacing a Jabra Solemate which has served me well for 4+ years. I also don’t play much music, mostly podcasts and YouTube vids, so max volume and bass aren’t very important. Give me something I can pick up and place wherever I want, ideally with a “home base” charger like the upcoming AirPower. Even a Siri-enabled Beats Pill could do the trick, but I don’t think Apple would undermine their Homepods that way, they’ll keep the Beats as “dumb” speakers for now.
HP, sounds ok except for too much bass, reading the posts it seems I am the only one who doesn’t like the bass, is there a way to adjust the bass, or is it the position in my room or what it is placed on affecting it.,,
I like bass on my Bose speaker and Zeppelin but must say I am not liking so much the Homepod?
Using a jury-rigged hanger, I installed a HomePod on my living room’s ceiling. Sounds better.
Using a jury-rigged dangler, I dangled a HomePod from my balls.
Sounds better. Feels amazing!