Sound stuff: Apple’s HomePod is a late pretender to the smart-speaker crown
![Apple’s HomePod](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/RurAHsy4RrG9afr9tMXo4G-415-80.jpg)
Apple is famously averse to first moves. It waits in stealth while others pitch in with new technologies and then hits the market with something it promises is comprehensively better. It’s a strategy that has worked so far and it’s one that it has taken with the launch of HomePod, Apple’s version of the digital assistant-armed wireless speaker. This time though, it feels even later to the party.
Amazon made the front running with the Echo and its inbuilt digital assistant, Alexa, launched way back in 2014. Apple were hoping to get HomePod, in development since 2012, out before last Xmas but decided to park the release until a few undisclosed wrinkles were ironed out. Again, it hopes that comprehensive betterness will make up for lost time.
HomePod, priced at $349 and thus significantly more expensive than the Echo, is a far superior speaker. Among its rivals, only the Sonos One really stands any comparison (and not much at that). HomePod is bristling with acoustic armaments powered by its A8 chip, including seven beam-forming tweeters (unusually, placed at the bottom of the speaker and each with their own amplifier) and a high-excursion woofer (weirdly, in a good way, set at the top of the speaker). It also adjusts the way it plays music, depending on where you place it in your room, and works out how to get the best from your selection on a track-by-track basis – adjusting bass output, for instance, if it fears a fluffiness or lack of focus.
HomePod also works independently of your iPhone, so you fire up your tunes with a polite ‘Hey Siri’ and a request, like a domestic version of the mobile disco. At the moment, that only works with Apple Music, so if you want to use rival streaming services you will have to connect your iPhone via AirPlay and use it as a remote. HomePod will also give you more information about what’s playing, if you’re interested. Later in the year, once the required software upgrades are sorted, you will also be able to pair HomePods for superior stereo sounds.
You can also, in the now established way, demand news updates and weather reports, or ask Siri odd, random questions and see what it comes up with. It will also send messages, set timers (though only one at a time) and take notes (though it can’t order you an Uber, a pizza or the new Karl Ove Knausgård novel like Alexa can). Apple is also selling HomePod as the hands-free way to control the ever-growing range of smart HomeKit devices.
Oh, and of course, it looks great, an elegant blob of wire mesh; while Siri, when activated, is a hypnotic swirl of colour set in a jet black or white pool on top of the speaker. In the manner of all Apple products at launch, HomePod is a long way from realising its full potential, but waves of extras and functionality are set to follow.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
For more information, visit the Apple website
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
Watch Steve Jobs give a keynote at the 1983 International Design Conference in Aspen
The latest publication from The Steve Jobs Archive captures Apple’s co-founder giving a typically iconoclastic performance to a 1980s audience of design
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The new Beats Pill: exclusive interview with Apple’s Oliver Schusser
Oliver Schusser, an Apple Vice-President, is in town to talk Pills, thrills and heartaches. We sat down to explore the Beats portable music strategy
By Craig McLean Published
-
Apple Intelligence has landed, giving Siri the ChatGPT treatment and adding new AI-powered features and functions
Apple’s 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference marked the debut of Apple Intelligence, the company’s long-awaited riposte to Silicon Valley’s current AI obsession
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Apple Vision Pro: exclusive interview with the Apple Design Team
Apple Vision Pro – available today in the US – is a wearable spatial computer that blends the digital with the physical, heralding a whole new platform for experiencing technology
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
What’s new from Apple: iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 make their debut
Apple cuts the cord with its isolationist past by joining the USB-C party. Other enhancements and upgrades ensure the new iPhones remain the photographer’s choice
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Apple Design Awards 2023 celebrate the work of iOS app developers
Apple Design Awards 2023 exclusive: as Apple rewards developers for the quality of their App Store wares, we showcase three standout apps and reveal all 12 winners
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
Will Apple Vision Pro usher in a new world of spatial computing?
All eyes are on Apple’s first foray into augmented reality. Apple Vision Pro promises to bring us a new world of work and play
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
‘Make Something Wonderful’ is the first publication from the Steve Jobs Archive
The ultimate exploration of a singular mind, ‘Make Something Wonderful’ is Steve Jobs in his own words
By Sarah Douglas Published