Apple’s attempt at dethroning Amazon’s Alexa was a valiant one but while the HomePod smart speaker gave its all to the cause, it just wasn’t enough. Apple confirmed that it was doing away with the standard HomePod and will be focusing its efforts onto the smaller, cheaper version: The HomePod Mini. Which makes a great deal of sense considering the original costs more than double the Mini. Functionally the same thing, the Mini was just the more desirable and accessible smart speaker by Apple, meaning that it’s the obvious model to keep around. As for the chunkier original, Apple will no longer manufacture the device and has no plans for a follow up.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. If you already own a HomePod you’ll still be able to get all the software updates, and technical support will still be available. It’s not that Apple will stop supporting the device just more that it won’t produce it any more.
Pour one out for the HomePod
It makes sense that Apple would focus on the Mini as it’s easily the most accessible of it’s smart speaker range. When there’s Google and Amazon selling their own smart speakers at a significantly cheaper price, Apple needs to remain competitive. The HomePod Mini is also just… better. It’s more compact, robust, and certainly doesn’t stand out like the painfully ugly obelisk that was the original Homepod.
This also means that Apple can dedicate more resources to the Mini, so we could see some major updates hitting the device fairly soon. That’s just us speculating but one has to imagine that if they’re all in on the Mini, improvements are no doubt around the corner.
Source: Digital Trends