January 18, 2023
PRESS RELEASE
Apple introduces the new HomePod with advanced sound and intelligence
It offers incredible audio quality, advanced Siri capabilities and a safe and secure smart home experience
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced HomePod (2nd generation), a powerful smart speaker that delivers next-level acoustics in a gorgeous, iconic design. Equipped with Apple innovations and Siri intelligence, HomePod offers advanced computational audio for a revolutionary listening experience, including support for immersive spatial audio tracks. With new convenient ways to manage daily tasks and control the smart home, users can now create smart home automation with Siri, get notified when a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm is detected in their home, and check temperature and humidity in a room – all hands. – free.
The new HomePod is available to order online and in the Apple Store app starting today, with availability beginning Friday, February 3.
“Leveraging our expertise and audio innovations, the new HomePod delivers rich, deep bass, natural mids and clear, detailed highs,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing. “With the popularity of the HomePod mini, we have seen a growing interest in even more powerful acoustics achievable in a larger HomePod. We are excited to bring the next generation of HomePod to customers around the world.
Refined design
With a seamless, acoustically transparent mesh fabric and a backlit touch surface that lights up from edge to edge, the new HomePod boasts a beautiful design that complements any space. HomePod is available in midnight white, a new color made with 100 percent recycled mesh fabric, with a colored braided power cable.
Acoustic center
HomePod delivers incredible audio quality, with rich, deep bass and stunning high frequencies. A specially designed high-excursion woofer, a powerful motor that drives the diaphragm a remarkable 20 mm, a built-in bass-EQ microphone, and a series of five beam-shaped tweeters around the base all work together to achieve an experience powerful acoustics. The S7 chip is combined with software and system detection technology to offer even more advanced computational audio that maximizes the full potential of its acoustic system for a revolutionary listening experience.
With room detection technology, HomePod recognizes sound reflections from nearby surfaces to determine if it’s against a wall or freestanding, and then adjusts the sound in real time. The precise directional control of its range of five tweeters separates and transmits direct and ambient audio, immersing listeners in crystal clear vocals and rich instrumentation.
Users can listen to a catalog of more than 100 million songs with Apple Music,1 enjoy Spatial Audio with a single HomePod or as a stereo pair, or create a captivating home theater experience with Apple TV 4K. With Siri, users can access a variety of music knowledge, and search by artist, song, lyrics, decade, genre, mood, or activity.
Elevated experience with more HomePod speakers
Two or more HomePod or HomePod speakers unlock a variety of powerful features. Use multiroom audio with AirPlay,2 Users can simply say “Hey Siri,” or tap and hold the top of HomePod to play the same song on multiple HomePod speakers, play different songs on different HomePod speakers, or even use it as an intercom to broadcast messages to other rooms
Users can also create a stereo pair with two HomePod speakers in the same space.3 In addition to separating the left and right channels, a stereo pair reproduces each channel in perfect harmony, creating a wider and more immersive sound than traditional stereo speakers for a truly extraordinary listening experience.
Seamless integration with the Apple ecosystem
Using Ultra Wideband technology, users can stream whatever they’re playing on their iPhone—like a favorite song, a podcast, or even a phone call—directly to a HomePod.4 To easily control what’s playing or get personalized song and podcast recommendations, anyone in the house can bring an iPhone near HomePod and suggestions will pop up automatically. HomePod can also recognize up to six voices, so every member of the household can listen to their personal playlists, request reminders, and set calendar events.
HomePod easily pairs with Apple TV 4K for a powerful home theater experience, and eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel)5 Support in Apple TV 4K allows customers to make HomePod the audio system for all devices connected to the TV. Plus, with Siri on HomePod, users can control what’s playing on their Apple TV hands-free.
Find My on HomePod allows users to locate their Apple devices, such as an iPhone, by playing a sound on the misplaced device. Using Siri, users can also ask for the location of friends or loved ones who share their location via the app.
A smart home essential
With sound recognition,6 HomePod can listen for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and send a notification directly to the user’s iPhone if a sound is detected. The new built-in temperature and humidity sensor can measure the indoor environment, so users can create automation that closes the blinds or automatically turns on the fan when a certain temperature is reached in a room.
By activating Siri, customers can control a single device or create scenes like “Good morning” that set multiple smart home accessories to work at the same time, or create hands-free recurring automations like “Hey Siri, open the blinds every day at dawn.”7 A new confirmation tone indicates when a Siri request is made to control an accessory that cannot see a change, such as a heater, or for accessories located in a different room. Environmental sounds – such as the ocean, forest and rain – have also been remastered and are more integrated into the experience, allowing customers to add new sounds to scenes, automations and alarms.
Users can also intuitively navigate, view and organize accessories with the redesigned Home app, which offers new categories for climate, lighting and security, enables easy configuration and control of the smart home, and includes a new multi-camera view.
Material support
Matter launched last fall, allowing smart home products to work within the ecosystem while maintaining the highest levels of security. Apple is a member of the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which maintains the Matter standard, along with other industry leaders. HomePod connects and controls Matter-enabled accessories, and serves as an essential home hub, giving users access when they’re away from home.
Customer data is Private Property
Protecting customer privacy is one of Apple’s core values. All smart home communications are always end-to-end encrypted, so they cannot be read by Apple, including camera recordings with HomeKit Secure Video. When Siri is used, the audio of the request is not stored by default. These features give users peace of mind that their privacy is protected at home.
HomePod and the environment
HomePod is designed to minimize its environmental impact, and includes 100 percent recycled gold—a first for HomePod—in the plating of multiple printed circuits and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in the speaker magnet. HomePod meets Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency, and is free of mercury, BFR, PVC and beryllium. The redesigned packaging eliminates outer plastic packaging, and 96 percent of the packaging is fiber-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.
Today, Apple is carbon neutral for the company’s global operations, and by 2030, it plans to be 100 percent carbon neutral throughout its manufacturing supply chain and across all product life cycles. This means that every Apple device sold, from component manufacturing, assembly, transportation, customer use, charging, through to recycling and material recovery, will have a net zero climate impact.
Pricing and Availability
- HomePod (2nd generation) is available to order $299 (US) from apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spainu UKu USand 11 other countries and regions starting today, with availability beginning Friday, February 3.
- HomePod (2nd generation) is compatible with iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later, or iPhone 8 and later with iOS 16.3 or later; o iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation) and later, iPad Air (3rd generation) and later, or iPad mini (5th generation) and later with iPadOS 16.3.
- Customers in the US get 3 percent Daily Cash back when they buy directly from Apple with Apple Card.
About Apple
Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms – iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS – provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with innovative services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.
- Apple Music requires a subscription.
- Multiroom audio requires multiple HomePod speakers or AirPlay compatible speakers with the latest AirPlay software.
- Creating a HomePod stereo pair requires two of the same model of HomePod speakers, such as two HomePod mini, two HomePod (2nd generation), or two HomePod (1st generation).
- iOS 16.3 is required on iPhone for Handoff.
- Home theater with eARC support requires Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) or later, running the latest tvOS software.
- Voice recognition will be available in a software update later this spring. Sound recognition can detect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm sounds and send notifications to users when they are recognized. Voice recognition should not be relied upon in circumstances where users may be injured or harmed, or in high risk or emergency situations. Sound recognition requires the updated Home architecture, which will be available as a separate update in the Home app. It requires all Apple devices that access the home to be with the latest software.
- Smart home accessories are sold separately.
Press Contacts
Emily Ewing
Apple
Lance Lin
Apple
(408) 974-5036
Apple Media Helpline
(408) 974-2042
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