To say the announcement of the second-generation HomePod was unexpected is an understatement. While there had been some rumours that a new model was in the works, the timing was completely unexpected, arriving on a Wednesday morning in the middle of January following the M2 Mac mini and MacBook Pro launches.
The HomePod itself is even stranger than the timing. The HomePod website makes no mention of a new model, and Apple appears to have gone to great lengths to design a new HomePod that looks and sounds exactly like the old HomePod. Early reviews say the new HomePod “remains true to the original,” with “lovely and deep” sound that still offers “expression and punch,” especially when paired with a second.
That last point is crucial. While music is undoubtedly a key selling point for the second-generation model, Apple is also positioning HomePod as part of your “cinematic home theatre experience,” a feature that wasn’t available when the first model was released. According to early reports, a pair of HomePods is “great at adding height in terms of positioning sounds to match the action on the screen” and provides “good clarity, nice bass, and great dimensional audio.”
Of course, HomePod’s sound quality was never an issue. HomePod, like the iPod and AirPods, specialised in music and did it exceptionally well. While some audiophiles criticised the HomePod for being too bass-heavy, it was widely regarded as one of the best standalone smart speakers available at the time. It could only play Apple Music (or AirPlay from an Apple device) and couldn’t function as a Bluetooth speaker, but it sounded great! We all know how it ended—Apple discontinued HomePod in March 2021 after an unusual price cut, presumably due to slowing sales.
So, if the original HomePod didn’t make it as a pricey and limited music speaker, why didn’t Apple reimagine the new HomePod as a soundbar? A radical redesign would not only have turned heads and re-ignited interest in the speaker, but it would have instantly made HomePod a player in the home theatre space. Along with Apple TV+ and Apple TV 4K, Apple would have a one-two punch that no other speaker manufacturer or streaming service could match.
Arc de triumph
The pieces are all in place. HomePod has two 4-inch high-excursion woofers and ten horn-loaded tweeters with individual neodymium amplifier magnets as a stereo pair, which is more than enough to compete with the Sonos Arc’s 11 Class-D amplifiers, three angled silk-domed tweeters, and eight 2-inch by 3-inch elliptical woofers. In fact, Apple already encourages you to purchase two HomePod speakers along with an Apple TV 4K “to enjoy Dolby Atmos audio for a complete cinematic home theatre experience.” What if you could use a pair of HomePod minis as rear speakers and full surround sound?
The only thing it really needs is a longer, flatter design and two HDMI ports. A HomePod soundbar could still function as a music player, Home hub, and always-on Siri speaker, but with a new emphasis on home theatre. Perhaps a Dialogue mode that improves conversational speech, or a Movie mode that emphasises action or explosions.
Apple already encourages you to buy two $299 HomePods. Even if a HomePod soundbar costs $799 and an additional $199 for two HomePod minis, it is still less expensive than a Sonos Arc system with two rear One speakers. And the design is much more conducive to home theatre use than two rather tall speakers that may obstruct certain views of your television.
I don’t have sales figures for the original HomePod or preorders for the new one, but I doubt anyone who owns a first-generation HomePod is rushing out to buy a second-generation model. Apart from a temperature sensor and the ability to notify you when it detects an alarm, the press releases announcing the speakers could have been the same—Apple doesn’t even mention the original HomePod as a point of comparison anywhere on the site.
Instead of a true sequel, Apple’s second attempt at creating a high-end high-fidelity speaker for the home feels like a rerun. And I’m afraid it’ll end the same way as the first one.