Thursday February 2, 2023 7:57 americium PST by

Apple's VP of hardware engineering Matthew Costello and merchandise selling worker Alice Chan precocious spoke with Men's Journal and TechCrunch astir the caller second-generation HomePod successful wide-ranging interviews astir the astute speaker.

HomePod 2 White and Midnight Feature Purple Blue
Apple discontinued the archetypal full-size HomePod successful March 2021 aft aggregate reports indicated that income of the talker were lackluster, but Chan told Men's Journal that Apple has since "heard much involvement than ever for the acoustics of a richer larger speaker," starring the institution to merchandise different larger HomePod.

The caller HomePod looks virtually identical to the original, though it is 0.2 inches shorter and has a larger edge-to-edge LED touchscreen connected top. Costello told TechCrunch that Apple's teams "really love" this signifier and signifier for the full-size HomePod and "were capable to make a fantastic strategy wrong that structure."

Costello explained wherefore the caller HomePod is constricted to the older Wi-Fi 4 standard, compared to Wi-Fi 6 connected different modern Apple devices:

"HomePod features Wi-Fi 4 connectivity that allows america to people precisely what works champion successful the full system," Costello tells TechCrunch, "making definite Siri requests are responsive, and ensuring a accordant acquisition for each you are listening to, controlling your astute location accessories and much — each portion being vigor efficient."

He besides elaborated connected the inability to brace a caller HomePod with an archetypal HomePod:

"When creating a stereo pair, it's important that the audio characteristics lucifer for an optimal, balanced experience," says Costello of the deficiency of compatibility. "The caller HomePod delivers immersive, room-filling dependable users emotion — with adjacent much detail, clarity and layers than the archetypal HomePod — truthful we wanted the acoustical imaging to beryllium arsenic axenic and accordant arsenic imaginable from procreation to generation. The rule of having audio characteristics lucifer successful a stereo brace applies to HomePod mini, the archetypal HomePod and the caller HomePod."

Apple told some media publications that the HomePod mini is "popular," but did not supply immoderate further details oregon remark connected the aboriginal of the smaller speaker.

In his interrogation with Men's Journal, Costello provides further details astir the caller HomePod's hardware and technologies, including the four-inch high-excursion woofer, tweeters, beamforming microphones, room-sensing capabilities, and more.

The caller HomePod is disposable to pre-order for $299 and launches this Friday successful the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K., Japan, Australia, and prime different countries. Check retired our HomePod reappraisal roundup for a hands-on look astatine the speaker, which galore reviewers recovered to person mostly the aforesaid dependable prime arsenic the original.

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