Apple HomePod (2nd Gen, 2023): Specs, Release Date, Price
Five years after the unique HomePod, Apple has lastly deemed it time to launch a successor. The second-generation HomePod breathes new life into the corporate’s good house aspirations, boasting a brand new processor and improved sound high quality, together with a temperature and humidity sensor, easier good house automation, and assist for Matter—the usual that goals to make all good house units interoperable.
However, this good speaker is almost as costly as the unique. Sure, it’s $50 much less, however it nonetheless prices $299. At least there’s nonetheless the HomePod Mini for $99. If the worth doesn’t deter you, the second-generation HomePod is accessible for preorder and formally hits cabinets on February 3.
Wrapped in mesh cloth with a backlit contact floor on high, the brand new HomePod appears to be like equivalent to its predecessor. There’s a brand new shade choice although—midnight, along with the normal white. You’ll get a color-matched woven energy cable, which is at all times a pleasant contact.
The extra notable enhancements are on the within. The new HomePod is powered by an S7 processor for computational audio—yep, the identical one contained in the Apple Watch Series 7—which is supposedly an enormous improve from the A8 chip on the unique. When it’s mixed with the high-excursion woofer, inside bass-EQ mic, and an array of 5 tweeters, Apple says you’ll get a “groundbreaking listening experience.” Par for the course on Applespeak, however the audio high quality was by no means one among our points with the HomePod.
It now comes geared up with a brand new room-sensing expertise. With the flexibility to acknowledge sound reflections from close by surfaces, the HomePod can establish whether or not it’s in opposition to a wall or freestanding and modify the sound in response to its particular placement within the room for clearer audio. We’ve seen variations of this expertise from audio manufacturers earlier than, in addition to from good speaker producers like Google. For a extra immersive expertise, you possibly can pair two HomePod audio system for stereo sound, and sure, you too can pair it with the HomePod Mini for multiroom audio.
This new mannequin additionally contains the Ultra Wideband expertise we first noticed on the HomePod Mini again in 2021, which lets you hand off media out of your iPhone to the HomePod. You can switch no matter audio is enjoying in your iPhone (like a podcast or telephone name) to the HomePod when each units are close to one another, good for once you arrive house and need to go hands-free. With Find My assist, you too can use the speaker to find your iPhone by enjoying a sound on the misplaced machine.
As for these improved good house options, you’ll now be capable to use your HomePod to hear for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms utilizing its Sound Recognition characteristic (initially launched with iOS 14). Weirdly, this received’t be accessible at launch however will make its strategy to the speaker by way of a software program replace in June. If the HomePod detects these sounds, it’ll ship a notification to your iPhone instantly (these options are already accessible in Google and Amazon good audio system as properly).
