It may appear strange that Apple released a second-generation HomePod speaker that is nearly identical to the first, but there’s a simple reason for this: people wanted it.
In an interview with Men’s Journal, Apple’s vice president of product marketing, Alice Chan, stated that after two years of the HomePod mini, the company had “heard more interest than ever for the acoustics of a richer, larger speaker.” That’s why Apple decided to bring back the original HomePod nearly two years after it was discontinued.
Apple has “taken all of the learnings from the original HomePod as well as the HomePod mini and applied them to the new HomePod,” according to Chan, which is obvious even without listening to one. The new model has a nearly identical design and specifications to the original speaker, but it includes smart home functionality such as a temperature and humidity sensor, as well as Thread support.
Along with the newer components, the new HomePod includes a 2004 Wi-Fi 4 chip. However, Matthew Costello, vice president of hardware engineering and operations, told TechCrunch in a separate interview that this is all by design: “HomePod features Wi-Fi 4 connectivity, which enables us to target exactly what works best in the entire system, ensuring Siri requests are responsive and ensuring a consistent experience for everything you’re listening to, controlling your smart home accessories, and more-all while remaining energy efficient.”
Despite the fact that it hasn’t been updated since its initial release in 2020, the HomePod mini recently gained support for its own temperature and humidity sensor, a rare major hardware upgrade for an existing product. With the resurrection of the original HomePod, it’s clear that Apple never intended the HomePod mini to carry the line. According to Costello, Apple’s engineering teams “really, really love this direction, in terms of the shape and form” of the HomePod, and many other people do as well.