At its annual worldwide developer conference (WWDC 2017) keynote yesterday, Apple introduced a Siri-powered smart speaker – the Apple HomePod to take on the Amazon Echo and Google Home. The 7-inch device is available in ‘Space Grey” and ‘White’ colours and will start shipping by December 2017 in the US, UK and Australia. Other markets will follow in 2018.
The Apple HomePod is described by Apple’s Phil Schiller as a “smart speaker for music lovers’ which taps into Apple’s subscription based Music service and the integration of the company’s voice-activated personal assistant – Siri, helps people manage their lives and homes.
https://youtu.be/1hw9skL-IXc
The speaker has an Apple A8 chipset, packs a 4-inch woofer, seven small tweeters and six-microphone. It is also ‘Spatially Aware’ i.e it detects its location in a room and adjusts its output accordingly. At $349, the Apple HomePod costs almost twice as the Amazon Echo ($179) and Google Home ($129) but cheaper than the Sonos 5 ($499).
Apple HomePod |
Specs Highlight |
| Dimensions | 172 mm (high) x 142 mm (wide) |
| Weight | 2.5 kg |
| Colours | Space Grey, White |
| Audio Technology | · High-excursion woofer with custom amplifier;
· Array of seven horn-loaded tweeters, each with its own custom amplifier; · Six-microphone array for far-field Siri and room sensing; · Internal low-frequency calibration microphone for automatic bass correction · Direct and ambient audio beamforming · Transparent studio-level dynamic processing |
| Wireless | · 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi‑Fi with MIMO
· Multiroom speaker support with AirPlay 23 |
| Languages | English (Australia, UK, and U.S.) |
