Hey everyone, today we are here to discuss the HomePod second generation! It was all the way back in 2017 when Apple released the OG HomePod to later discontinue it in 2021, which in my honest opinion was a silly move. They should have probably released this HomePod alongside the mini back in 2020 but I'll get into that later.
Specs
So not too much has changed since the OG, which isn't the be all and end all since the OG sounded so good, especially for its time. The main thing they've changed is the chip inside, it now rocks the S7 chip which originally debuted in the Apple Watch Series 7 at the back end of 2021, which seems a bit odd as even the Apple Watch SE is rocking the newer S8 chip from the current Apple Watch Series 8 and starts at a lower price than the HomePod. It's also got a temperature sensor which is pretty cool, but bear in mind that the HomePod Mini has had that since launch too, more on that in the next section. And in terms of features, it has all of the stuff you'd expect it to have as a smart speaker like Siri, HomeKit, you can stereo pair it, room sensor, spatial audio and handoff which is actually pretty cool!
All in all it's a pretty beefy speaker, but there are definitely some questionable decisions that were made by Apple which we’ll get onto.
Vs the mini
Well this is where it starts to get interesting! So sound wise, there's no competition as to be expected. The HomePod 2 blows the mini out of the water in terms of sound, especially in terms of volume. As I say for every audio product I review, I'm no audiophile, but here's my attempt to describe the sound; the mini sounds great, especially for the size of it, but, the new HomePod sounds fuller, and by that I mean it gets louder, has more bass and I feel like it just sounds more crispy and clear. Other than that they mostly have the same features, the exceptions being spatial audio and the room sensor, neither of which are deal breakers. The most interesting thing I find that they have in common is the temperature sensor, you may be confused and asking "since when does the mini have a temperature sensor" and that is a very valid question. So technically the mini has had the temperature sensor since launch, which was over 2 year ago but Apple had it software locked until this new HomePod released which is very very strange, since the tech was there, they just decided not to use it.
Vs the OG
Okay so this just confused me further. The original HomePod was released way back in 2017, which was half a decade ago now! From what I've heard, there's a lot of mixed opinions about the sound comparison between the two speakers. Some people claim the new one is slightly better and some people claim it's worse. I honestly haven't heard them both together so I cant comment but the new one does technically have 2 less tweeters than the OG which isn't a good thing for sure. Other than making it lighter I'm not sure why Apple would do that but I'm sure there must be reason that we're not aware of, potentially cost related. Obviously because the second generation is 5 years newer, it has a better chip so it will likely get supported by Apple for much longer and it does have a few more smart home features like the handoff and the temperature sensor as mentioned above. Designwise, they are literally the same. No jokes. Okay, so the new ones touch display is placed a little differently, but like they look the same. Which don't get me wrong, its a beautiful design but I would have liked to see more colours to differentiate the new one. Imagine a purple HomePod...
What I think
So as you can tell from the title, I have very mixed feelings about this product, like I love it, but it confuses the heck out of me. When I first saw the announcement that the big HomePod was returning, I was super happy! Like the hype was real! I never had the OG so I was excited to finally have a big HomePod, and when I got it, it was very underwhelming! Like it sounds good but not £299 good, and Siri isn't worth that much at all! For my use case the mini is perfect, when using them both at the same volume, I could barely notice a difference, yes obviously the big one sounded better, but not £200 better. Plus it doesn't come in the really cute blue colour that I have the mini in...
The verdict
So this is a really hard decision. I'd say if you have the OG, there is no rush to upgrade at all unless you're desperate for handoff, then there are barely any changes to the new one. But if you do want a HomePod and specifically don't want the mini then you should definitely get the second generation just for the longer software support. Most people should probably just get the HomePod mini though, it's such a powerful speaker in such a small footprint, and it comes in lots of pretty colours, which is definitely the most important part, right?
And honestly I think it was so stupid that Apple discontinued the big HomePod and just had the HomePod Mini, to bring the big HomePod back with minor changes 2 years later, honestly I still can't make sense of that. Hopefully going forward Apple doesn't make such a mess of the HomePod lineup because in tis current state it works pretty well in my opinion, HomePod and HomePod mini.
And there you have it! My review of the HomePod 2, definitely not what I thought it was going to be and for those who are wondering, I did end up returning mine and sticking with my mini which is perfect for my casual music listening and angrily yelling at Siri to turn the lights on for the 100th time while it casually ignores me!
Thanks for reading!!