AppleInsider Staff
Apple took the wraps off HomePod, a competitor to so-called "smart speakers" like Amazon Echo, on Monday, later offering WWDC attendees a closer look at the device prior to an expected debut in December.
Apple had both white and black HomePods on display at the San Jose Convention Center, though neither model was fully functional. Whether the HomePods contained speaker hardware, a processor and other components is unclear, as the only functioning feature was the Siri graphic on top of the unit.
Aside from a single power cable, the sneak peek versions do not feature input/output ports, suggesting Apple plans to rely solely on wireless connectivity for audio transfer. The decision comes as no surprise considering the company's efforts to slowly remove wired connections from its product lineups.
From a design standpoint, HomePod is an elegant piece of equipment that should fit in with most modern home decors. A 3D mesh acoustic fabric hides away functional bits like a 7-tweeter pack, 6-microphone beamforming array, central up-firing subwoofer and chassis.
An A8 chip sits below the speaker cap to handle realtime acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, and multi-channel echo cancelation. Perhaps most importantly, the A8 also powers Siri, making HomePod an intelligent assistant device capable of accepting commands, answering queries, controlling HomeKit accessories and more.
HomePod is expected to ship in December for $349.
Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
61 Comments
In case you ever wondered what a Mac Pro wearing fishnet stockings would look like.
It's pricey compared to Amazon and Google but not overpriced for a piece of audio kit. It needs to be better than Amazon/Google though and based on the price/performance of Beats gear, we can't be sure. Worth getting as long as it'll last like normal hifi speaker. Not sure it'll be worth $700 for stereo but as a back-up speaker I'm sure it'll do
yeah ill get one of these for use in our large master bathroom. perfect for when taking a bath -- currently use either an AirPlay speaker or a BT portable, but the sound on either aint great. if this is as good as they said, and the voice control for music is optimized as they've said, then it could be worth it.
Several people I've spoken to thought it was stated it would only work with the paid Apple Music. Surely it will work with Air Play as well? My take that was referencing how you got the 'Music expert' not implying that was all it could do. I hope I am not wrong.
Home automation for the masses is something that has to work 100% of the time (like electrical outlets themselves) and be secure from hackers (not just for the benefit of their owner's privacy, but also to prevent the owner's devices from being weaponized against others, in other words, the common good), so I do totally understand the real value that Apple is bringing with its mandated quality assurances and chip-level encryption in their ecosystem vs. say the junk that the local big box peddles for half the price. But most people don't understand that value proposition and so it was brilliant to kick it up a notch with the inclusion of a high fidelity digital speaker that cosmetically appeals to their sense of luxury and ego. Apple is truly way ahead of the game and hopefully will be an example for the government to hold up to others when it eventually reigns in all of the get-rich-quick-and-worry-about-consumer-safety-later players peddling very dangerous home automation peripherals programmed in Asia by electrical engineers concerned mainly with pinching pennies and passing UL/FCC certification.