Apple has introduced HomePod, a revolutionary new wireless speaker with spatial awareness technology that further connects your home. This sleek, clever new device was made to work alongside an Apple Music subscription, helping users discover new music through access to its 40 million songs.
The Apple HomePod features an Apple-designed woofer system for incredible base and customizable seven tweeters for high frequency acoustics and precise directional control.
“Apple reinvented portable music with iPod and now HomePod will reinvent how we enjoy music wirelessly throughout our homes. HomePod packs powerful speaker technology, Siri intelligence and wireless access to the entire Apple Music library into a beautiful speaker that is less than 7 inches tall, can rock most any room with distortion free music and be a helpful assistant around your home.”
– Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing
Similar to their competitors Google and Amazon, Apple is banking on a connected home with the HomePod heavily designed around voice control. Inside you will find six microphones allowing users to interact with the speaker even across the room while loud music is playing. Simply say, “Hey Siri, play Calvin Harris” or “Hey Siri, I like this song,” and Apple Music and HomePod do the rest. Along with the most basic voice controls, Siri can also handle complex ones, like “Hey Siri, who is the lead guitarist in this song?”
Additional HomePod Features to Note:
- Apple-designed upward-facing woofer, paired with the custom A8 chip, enables bass management through real-time software modeling that ensures the speaker delivers the deepest and cleanest bass possible, with low distortion;
- Custom array of seven beam-forming tweeters, each with its own amplifier, provides well-balanced smooth timbre as well as precise directional control of a multitude of beam shapes and sizes;
- Apple-designed A8 chip provides the brains behind the advanced audio innovations;
- Automatic room-sensing technology allows HomePod to quickly learn its position in a room, whether it’s in a corner, on a table or in a bookshelf, and within seconds, is perfectly optimized to deliver an immersive music listening experience wherever it is placed;
- Six-microphone array with advanced echo cancellation enables Siri to understand people whether they are near the device or standing across the room, even while loud music is playing;
- Siri waveform appears on the top to indicate when Siri is engaged, and integrated touch controls also allow easy navigation;
- Automatic detection and balance of two speakers using both direct and reflected audio to deliver amazing audio wirelessly for an even more immersive experience; and
- Easy setup that is as intuitive as setting up AirPods — simply hold an iPhone next to HomePod and it’s ready to start playing music in seconds.
The Apple HomePod will be available starting in December for $349 USD, initially in the US, UK, and Australia. I imagine right in time for some last minute holiday shopping. Stay tuned for more!
