In the month of March it will be one year since Apple officially announced the discontinuation of the original HomePod. Little by little, the existing units of this speaker were sold out and now it is highly difficult to find stock in a store. Considering how highly rated this HomePod was for its sound quality, it was a highly surprising decision. Therefore, what reasons led Apple to stop selling it?
The official reason Apple gave
The Cupertino company limited itself to saying that they would focus on the HomePod mini, of which they were proud for the tremendous quality they had achieved in such a compact size and with such an interesting price ratio (99 euros). In that month of March 2021, barely six months had passed since its launch and they were already proving its success. Last September they announced new colors for this one, but there was no trace of a large edition again.
Doesn’t mean it’s obsolete
The fact that the company has discontinued it does not mean that it has become obsolete. In fact it keeps updating its software just like on the HomePod mini. In fact, it is expected to remain so for years to come. In the same way, if you had any problems with a classic HomePod, you would not have any problems in make use of your guarantee and go to technical support. The only thing that has really happened is that it has stopped selling and, at least from what they told us, they do not plan to release a second version either.
Will there really be no HomePod 2?
As always in the Apple environment, we find two versions: the official one and the one dictated by rumors. Obviously what Apple itself says is more credible, but perhaps the key is in what the company did not say. It’s well known that the original HomePod wasn’t exactly a bestseller and fell far short of its competition. Not even its appreciated sound quality made it compete by having a price that has ultimately proven to be high for the general public.
However, precisely because of this discontinuation, much information emerged that pointed (and continues to point) to another range of HomePodcompletely different from that original and the ‘mini’. A concept that has gained a lot of strength is that of a hybrid between HomePod, Apple TV and iPad, resulting in something similar to a Google Nest Hub. It was even said that it could be released this year, although currently the rumors that point to it are timid. Obviously, discarded is not either.
Google Nest Hub that a future HomePod could look like
Of course, we must bear in mind that this new HomePod format would not guarantee sound quality equal to or greater than that of the original model and not even comparable to the HomePod mini. It would be a completely new range and with its own peculiarities. If we take into account the great value that Apple gives to sound, exposing as proof the number of companies and patents that it has bought in relation to it, we can guess that it has not said its last word.
We do not know if they prepare or at least have in their plans to develop a Sound bar or something similar that supplies the original HomePod at a quality level, but it would not be unreasonable. Therefore, we will continue to wait to see what movements the company makes in this regard and if, hopefully, a patent registration or something similar appears that let us guess where the shots are going.
