HomePod

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<div style="font: bold 2em/1.2 -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'SF Pro Display', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: var(--wiki-color); margin-bottom: 0.8em;">HomePod</div>
<span style="color: #555; font-weight: bold;" darkstyle="color: var(--wiki-muted);">Profound sound.</span>
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| style="background-color: #333; padding: 8px;" | [https://www.apple.com/homepod-2nd-generation/ <span style="color: #fff;">Official HomePod site — Apple</span>]
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{{Apple Navbox}}

HomePod is [[Apple]]'s smart speaker line — the audio-first answer to a market Amazon and Google built around cheap microphones. Launched in 2018 on the premise that a smart speaker should sound excellent first, it has lived a turbulent product life: a flagship discontinued, a budget hit, a comeback, and a family now waiting on Siri's next act.

Both current models run Apple Watch-class silicon — the [[Apple S5]] in the mini, the [[Apple S7]] in the full-size — doing computational audio: real-time room sensing, beam-forming, and multi-speaker synchronization.

= History =

The original HomePod (2018, $349) earned superlative audio reviews and poor sales — priced like a hi-fi in a market of $49 assistants — and was discontinued in 2021. The HomePod mini (2020, $99, [[Apple S5|S5]]) inverted the outcome: small, affordable, and the line's volume seller, with a [[Apple U1|U1]] chip for handoff and a Thread radio that made it a smart-home hub. The second-generation HomePod (2023, $299, [[Apple S7|S7]]) revived the full-size with temperature and humidity sensing and Matter support.

Since then the line has held steady; refreshed models are widely reported to be ready and waiting on the overhauled, [[Apple Intelligence]]-era Siri they are meant to showcase.

= Current lineup =

{| style="width: 100%; border: 2px solid #555; text-align: left;" darkstyle="border-color: #48484a;"
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! style="background-color: #555; color: #fff; padding: 6px;" | Model
! style="background-color: #555; color: #fff; padding: 6px;" | Chip
! style="background-color: #555; color: #fff; padding: 6px;" | Role
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| '''HomePod (2nd generation)''' || [[Apple S7|S7]] (2023) || Full-size: room-sensing audio, stereo pairs, home hub
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| '''HomePod mini''' || [[Apple S5|S5]] (2020) || The volume speaker and Thread hub
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= Position =

HomePod is the ecosystem's ears in the house: AirPlay endpoint, [[Apple TV]] audio partner, Thread border router, and the intercom of Apple's smart home. Its history is Apple's clearest lesson in market pricing — and its future is the product line most obviously staged for whatever Siri becomes.

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{| style="width: 100%; border: 2px solid #333; text-align: center;" darkstyle="border-color: #48484a;" |- | style="padding: 28px 20px 42px;" | <div style="font: bold 2em/1.2 -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'SF Pro Display', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: var(--wiki-color); margin-bottom: 0.8em;">HomePod</div> <span style="color: #555; font-weight: bold;" darkstyle="color: var(--wiki-muted);">Profound sound.</span> |- | style="padding: 0;" | ![[hw_homepod.png]] |- | style="background-color: #333; padding: 8px;" | [https://www.apple.com/homepod-2nd-generation/ <span style="color: #fff;">Official HomePod site — Apple</span>] |} {{Apple Navbox}} HomePod is [[Apple]]'s smart speaker line — the audio-first answer to a market Amazon and Google built around cheap microphones. Launched in 2018 on the premise that a smart speaker should sound excellent first, it has lived a turbulent product life: a flagship discontinued, a budget hit, a comeback, and a family now waiting on Siri's next act. Both current models run Apple Watch-class silicon — the [[Apple S5]] in the mini, the [[Apple S7]] in the full-size — doing computational audio: real-time room sensing, beam-forming, and multi-speaker synchronization. = History = The original HomePod (2018, $349) earned superlative audio reviews and poor sales — priced like a hi-fi in a market of $49 assistants — and was discontinued in 2021. The HomePod mini (2020, $99, [[Apple S5|S5]]) inverted the outcome: small, affordable, and the line's volume seller, with a [[Apple U1|U1]] chip for handoff and a Thread radio that made it a smart-home hub. The second-generation HomePod (2023, $299, [[Apple S7|S7]]) revived the full-size with temperature and humidity sensing and Matter support. Since then the line has held steady; refreshed models are widely reported to be ready and waiting on the overhauled, [[Apple Intelligence]]-era Siri they are meant to showcase. = Current lineup = {| style="width: 100%; border: 2px solid #555; text-align: left;" darkstyle="border-color: #48484a;" |- ! style="background-color: #555; color: #fff; padding: 6px;" | Model ! style="background-color: #555; color: #fff; padding: 6px;" | Chip ! style="background-color: #555; color: #fff; padding: 6px;" | Role |- | '''HomePod (2nd generation)''' || [[Apple S7|S7]] (2023) || Full-size: room-sensing audio, stereo pairs, home hub |- | '''HomePod mini''' || [[Apple S5|S5]] (2020) || The volume speaker and Thread hub |} = Position = HomePod is the ecosystem's ears in the house: AirPlay endpoint, [[Apple TV]] audio partner, Thread border router, and the intercom of Apple's smart home. Its history is Apple's clearest lesson in market pricing — and its future is the product line most obviously staged for whatever Siri becomes.