It’s been a busy week for Apple. On Tuesday, we got it new chipsAnd Small MacsAnd macbook brosAnd Wednesday he brought it back HomePod full sizeWith similar design and feature original form Same price $299, almost two years after it was discontinued.
When you dig deeper, things get even weirder. The new HomePod is very different from the original model, but it won’t be noticeable to anyone buying one in ways that are subtle and confusing. Here are five facts about the new HomePod that will have us scratching our heads:
Apple has redesigned it this way
At first glance (and second and third), the second generation HomePod looks very similar to the original model. It has the same round body, outer grille, and screen, but there are slight differences. For one, it’s 4mm smaller and 200g lighter. The top screen has now been reduced in size slightly, and the screen is larger and easier to see. The “seamless mesh fabric” from the original model is now “acousto-transparent mesh fabric” and has a slight stretch at the top. There’s also a new Midnight color, which is a slightly darker version of Space Gray. However, none of the changes make a visual difference until you compare the new and the old side-by-side, so it seems odd that Apple took the trouble to redesign the HomePod in such small ways.
The stereo cannot be paired with the first generation HomePod
One of the HomePod’s best features is its ability to create a stereo pair that “plays every channel in perfect harmony, creating a wider and more immersive sound range than traditional stereo speakers.” It’s not a new feature, but there’s a catch: You can’t connect the new HomePod to the old one. For a stereo pair to work, you’ll need two identical HomePods: Gen 1 with Gen 1; Minnie with Minnie; The second generation with the second generation. This makes sense since the two have different specs, but it sure would have been nice for Apple to find a way to get the two to play nice.
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It uses an Apple Watch chip instead of an iPhone
The original HomePod used Apple’s A8 processor, which debuted in the iPhone 6 a few years ago, as “the brains behind advanced audio innovations.” When the HomePod mini arrived a few years later, the Apple Watch Series 5 used the S5 chip to “achieve big sound from such a small design.” The second-generation HomePod uses an Apple Watch chip, the Apple Watch Series 7’s S7 processor, to “deliver more advanced algorithmic audio.” That’s all well and good, but it’s hard to imagine that the A12 or A13 will provide a bit of future proofing.
It still has a built-in power cable
One of the biggest drawbacks of the original HomePod was the built-in power cable — mainly because people tried to unplug it normally and sometimes damaged their speakers. Apple may have changed the connector to prevent this from happening, but based on the photos, the HomePod has the same power cable permanently attached to the back of the device. Switching to a magnetic connector like the 24-inch iMac would have been a nice improvement.
The new HomePod may look similar to the old one, but it’s actually very different.
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Supports slower Wi-Fi than iPhone 6
Oddly enough, the new HomePod still has Bluetooth 5 instead of 5.3 (found in the latest Macs and iPhones), but it actually has slower Wi-Fi than the original model. According to the technical specifications, the first HomePod supports 802.11ac, which is called Wi-Fi 5, while the new HomePod uses Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n). Wi-Fi 6E may be too demanding when newer iPhones don’t support it, but we were surprised to see that the new HomePod uses the same old Wi-Fi standard as the iPhone 4.
Sound specs seem to be limited
Here’s the weird thing – in terms of audio specs, the new HomePod isn’t quite as good as the original model. While it certainly “offers next-level audio,” Apple claims, a quick comparison of the tech specs reveals fewer horn-loaded speakers (five versus seven) and microphones (four versus six). Of course, not all speakers and microphones are created equal and audio processing counts for a lot. It’s very possible that Apple could get equal or better sound from fewer speakers and mics — but oddly enough, after two years, the old HomePod is better than the new one on paper.