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Apple’ssecond - generationHomePoddebuted Friday , Feb. 3 , and marked the return of the company ’s full - size smart speaker for the first clock time since 2021 . After spending a few days with the audio - orient intersection , these are the features that stand out . The original HomePod was expel back in 2018 with a start terms of $ 349 , and after fall suddenly of sales expectations , was stop in March 2021 , a few months after releasing the HomePod Mini as a small , cheesy alternative to the full - size of it HomePod . The HomePod Mini went on tobecome one of the world ’s most popular impudent speakers , go Apple to upraise the full - size version .
This time , theHomePodhas a slenderly garish start price of $ 299 . Apple officially drop the price of the original HomePod to $ 299 worldwide on April 4 , 2019 , and it looks like the company is lodge with that cost period moving forward . Unlike other products , Apple is n’t marketing the latest HomePod as a better version of the original chic verbaliser . It ’s distinguish HomePod ( 2nd Generation ) on the companionship ’s site , and there are no direct comparisons to the original HomePod on the ware page . After spending some clip with the second - genesis HomePod , it ’s prosperous to see why — this is the HomePod thatApple should ’ve made in the first place .
Related : How To Set Up An Apple HomePod Or HomePod mini
Siri & HomeKit’s Growth Have Made HomePod Better
One of the job with the original HomePod was due to the limitations of Siri and HomeKit . Siri , though still less knowledgeable than Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa , has meliorate over the last five years and is a capable smart house helper . All this means that setting up and using a newfangled HomePod is going to be a much less frustrative experience than it was in 2018 .
Beyond audio , which is still a stunning focal power point of the impudent speaker , the HomePod is coming into its own as a impudent menage control . HomeKit , the once - limited fresh home ecosystem from Apple , nowsupports Matter and Thread ecosystems for better compatibility . The equipment itself is n’t equipped with a touchscreen , but it does have a few tricks up its mesh material to make controlling a smart home easy . clime control is the most impressive of the lot thus far , as asking " what ’s the temperature in the bedroom ? " will instantly tell the user the current temperature . If move , it can even approximate the room ’s humidity . The feature is also uncommitted on the HomePod Mini , but it ’s clearly going to be instrumental in setting up recurring smart house automation .
So , how does it sound ? The HomePod is clearly well sounding than the HomePod Mini , but not in the way that might be ask . Despite being more thandouble the size of it of the HomePod miniskirt , the newfangled HomePod does n’t sound that much louder . It sounds much good , though , with clear heights and a room - filling low ending that dwarfs the HomePod Mini . In the lag , stay tuned forScreen Rant’sfull review of the second - generationHomePod .
More : HomePod OS 16.3 Rolls Out With Temperature detection , come up My Upgrades , & More
Source : Apple
Photo Courtesy: Brady Snyder
