HomePod deserves a worthy successor, not the HomePod mini
The ‘big’ HomePod is no longer, now that Apple is fully focused on the HomePod mini. With that, Apple is sacrificing what made its speaker so good.
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HomePod sales stop: only the mini
For years I waited for the update that would bring the Dutch Siri to the HomePod. Since Friday it has turned out to be vain hope: Apple immediately stopped producing the HomePod to focus entirely on the HomePod mini. The large version would only be available while stocks last. The chance of noteworthy updates is therefore gone.
Despite the lack of a Dutch Siri, I have been extremely satisfied with the HomePod since 2017. The speaker has a permanent place in my living room and is used daily: I play all my music on it and, thanks to Siri, I use it to turn the lights in the house on and off.
This means that the HomePod fulfills exactly the function I need from a smart speaker: playing music with excellent quality, a good volume and operating my HomeKit devices. That Siri was less good at answering questions about current affairs or other matters makes little difference to me, I use my iPhone or Apple Watch for that.
Apple’s misconception about the HomePod
Apple’s choice to only focus on the HomePod mini now detracts from that position. The mini has less good sound quality, while that is precisely the primary reason for me to get a smart speaker: a device that is very good at playing music in the first place and also lends a hand in the second place. with switching the lights on and off.
In the meantime, competitors Google and Amazon are quietly making progress. They now have several variants of their speakers, where there is always a ‘premium model’ that is designed for the music lover. Sound quality comes first and you pay an additional price for that.
Hopefully, the HomePod’s withdrawal from Apple’s offering is temporary. Let’s hope Apple puts the finishing touches on a ‘HomePod 2’ or the ‘HomePod Max’, a speaker whose primary focus is music playback. Because while the HomePod mini is nice to have Siri in your house, for few people it will become their primary device for listening to audio.
Also read: HomePod vs HomePod mini: 5 differences between the small and large Apple speaker
