Following Apple’s announcement of its second-generation HomePod smart speaker;

Ardit Ballhysa, Technology Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“Apple’s second-generation HomePod offers no features that are not present in either the original HomePod or the HomePod Mini. Moreover, at $299, users will do well to avoid it, particularly during the current economic climate.

“After experiencing low sales driven by its high price, Apple discontinued the original HomePod in 2021. Therefore, Apple’s decision to re-introduce the HomePod into its portfolio at exactly the same price, with no exclusive features, is worthy of a good head-scratch.

“For $299, consumers can, among other things, purchase three Nest Audio’s from Google or one Echo studio and Echo from Amazon. Aside from having multiple products, consumers would also get smart home speakers that are compatible with thousands more smart home accessories.

“In the case of choosing Google, users will also have access to the Google Assistant, which is far superior to Apple’s Siri in terms of its smart features and capabilities.

“Competition aside, Apple’s decision to remove the number of tweeters* in the new HomePod from seven to five does not serve it well. Yes, there is a case to be made that software is just as important to sound quality as the hardware itself, but would it have been too much to ask if, alongside the new software, Apple kept the same number of tweeters as before?”

*Speakers that deliver high audio frequencies