On Wednesday , Appleannouncedthe second - generation HomePod , six year after introducing the archetype . This one is a little chic than its predecessor , making it worth consider for an upgrade . It costs $ 300 , supports Spatial Audio , and includes special smarts to help you control your smart home in the walled garden .
The new HomePod is more oblong than the original . It features the same meshing fabric that blankets the first two versions of the HomePod , including the HomePod Mini . It ’s available in black and lily-white and , like the Mini , includes a color - cope with power cable length .
Inside , the speaker is a little boomier than the last - gen . It has a custom subwoofer , a 20 millimetre diaphragm , and five tweeter to aid direct audio . Apple is vaunt the secondly - gen HomePod ’s ability for spatial audio , though you ’ll need extra HomePods to get the full effect . The first - coevals HomePod will not act with this novel ability .
The second-generation Apple HomePod supports Spatial Audio.Image: Apple
The HomePod have “ room sensing ” algorithmic program to tell whether audio bounces off nearby Earth’s surface or is free to roam . The idea is that the machine will manually adjust to the room ’s acoustics without your needing to tweak the equaliser . If you buy more than one HomePod , you’re able to make a stereophony mate with each whole .
The HomePod also work out with the Apple TV 4 potassium if you want to add it to your home theatre setup . you could then apply it to control the Apple TV congeal - top boxful with your vocalisation , even fo queuing up depicted object . If you ’re missing the iPhone somewhere in the sofa shock absorber , you’re able to utilize Find My on the HomePod to ask it to find your wanting twist .
Those are n’t the only smarts baked in . If you ’ve got a smart home in the Apple ecosystem , now you may use the new HomePod to listen for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms with its Sound Recognition capability . There ’s also a built - in temperature and humidness detector that can measure the indoors to give you a prompt reading in the Apple Home app . It ’s much more convenient than buy the sensors one by one and pairing them within your sassy home . ( It ’s deserving noting the HomePod mini also has therequisite hardwareto do the same . )
Apple’s second-gen HomePod includes a temperature sensor to let you know how humid a room is in your smart home.Image: Apple
Siri may not be the best digital helper , but it ’s act upon on catching up . The latest update introduces the confirmation tincture to indicate when it ’s heard your dictation . It ’s similar to a feature already uncommitted with Google Assistant and Amazon ’s Alexa . Apple ’s ambient sounds have also been remastered and can now be add to unlike shot in the smart home . And , of line , the HomePod is Matter compatible , though only a few accessory maker are currently shipping issue - enable products .
The fresh HomePod is available to pre - order in several region , include the U.S. , U.K. , Japan , Spain , Italy , Germany , France , China , Canada , Australia , and 11 other areas . However , it wo n’t ship until it ’s available on Feb.3 .
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