It’s been a busy week for Apple. On Tuesday, we acquired new chips, Mac minis, and MacBook Professionals, and Wednesday introduced the return of the full-sized HomePod, with an identical design and have set as the unique mannequin in addition to the identical $299 price ticket, about two years after it was discontinued.
And once you dig into it, issues get even stranger. The brand new HomePod is definitely fairly completely different than the unique mannequin, however in delicate and complicated ways in which gained’t be all that noticeable to anybody shopping for one. Listed here are 5 details in regards to the new HomePod which have us scratching our heads:
The design isn’t precisely the identical
At first look (and second and third), the 2nd-gen HomePod appears to be similar to the unique mannequin. It has the identical round physique, mesh exterior, and display screen, however there are slight variations. For one, it’s 4mm shorter and 200 grams lighter. The display screen on the prime is greater, barely recessed, and now takes up the entire space. The “seamless mesh material” from the unique mannequin is now “acoustically clear mesh material,” and stretches a bit extra excessive, and Midnight has changed Area Grey. That gained’t make a visible distinction until you’re evaluating a brand new one and an previous one facet by facet, and it appears unusual that Apple went by means of the difficulty of redesigning the HomePod in such small methods.
You may’t create a stereo pair with a 1st-gen HomePod
One of many HomePod’s finest options is its capability to create a stereo pair that “performs every channel in excellent concord, making a wider, extra immersive soundstage than conventional stereo audio system.” It’s not a brand new function, however there’s a catch: You may’t pair a brand new HomePod with an previous one. For a stereo pair to work, you’ll want two of the identical HomePods: a 1st gen with a 1st gen; mini with a mini; 2nd gen with a 2nd gen. It makes logical sense for the reason that two have completely different specs, however it certain would have been good for Apple to determine a solution to make the 2 play properly collectively.
Foundry
It makes use of an Apple Watch chip
The unique HomePod used Apple’s A8 processor, which had debuted within the iPhone 6 a couple of years earlier, as “the brains behind the superior audio improvements.” When the HomePod mini arrived a couple of years later, Apple used an Apple Watch Collection 5’s S5 chip to “obtain massive sound out of such a compact design.” The 2nd-gen HomePod additionally makes use of an Apple Watch chip, the Apple Watch Collection 7’s S7 processor, “to supply much more superior computational audio.” That’s all nicely and good, however it’s laborious to not suppose an A12 or A13 would supply a little bit of future-proofing.
It nonetheless has an built-in energy cable
One of many unique HomePod’s largest shortcomings was the built-in energy cable—primarily as a result of folks naturally tried to disconnect it and typically ended up ruining their audio system. It’s doable that Apple modified the connector to cease that from taking place, however primarily based on images, the HomePod nonetheless has the identical completely hooked up energy cable on the rear of the machine. A swap to a magnetic connector just like the 24-inch iMac would have been a pleasant enchancment.
The brand new HomePod might look similar to the previous one, however it’s really a bit completely different.
Foundry
It helps slower Wi-Fi
It’s bizarre sufficient that the brand new HomePod nonetheless has Bluetooth 5 as a substitute of 5.3 (as discovered on new Macs and iPhones), however it really has slower Wi-Fi than the unique mannequin. In keeping with the tech specs, the primary HomePod supported 802.11ac, higher generally known as Wi-Fi 5 whereas the newer HomePod makes use of Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n). Maybe it’s an excessive amount of to ask for Wi-Fi 6E when the brand new iPhones don’t even assist it, however we’re shocked to see the brand new HomePod makes use of a Wi-Fi commonplace as previous because the iPhone 4.
The audio specs look like inferior
Right here’s the strangest factor—primarily based on the audio specs, the brand new HomePod isn’t pretty much as good as the unique mannequin. Whereas it absolutely “delivers next-level acoustics” as Apple claims, a fast comparability of the tech specs exhibits two fewer horn-loaded tweeters (5 vs. seven) and microphones (4 vs. six). After all, all audio system and microphones usually are not made the identical and audio processing counts for lots. It’s fairly doable that Apple will get equal or higher audio out of fewer audio system and microphones—however it’s unusual that after two years the previous HomePod is superior to the brand new one on paper.
