Apple has removed all references to the original, full-sized HomePod from its website, months after officially discontinuing the smart speaker that struggled to reach mainstream adoption.
The removal of references to the original HomePod came as a result of brand new changes to Apple's website. With the new changes, Apple now only highlights the HomePod mini, which now comes in brand new colors.
Apple announced HomePod in 2018 as its first major home-centric product, focused around delivering high-quality audio combined with the integration into services, such as Apple Music and Siri.
Priced at $349 at launch and eventually decreased to $299, Apple struggled to market the HomePod in a way appealing to the masses, yielding lower sales than the company was likely aiming for. Additionally, Siri, which powers the HomePod experience, continues to grapple with catching up to the capabilities of Google's smart assistant and Amazon's Alexa.
Apple followed up the full-sized HomePod with the HomePod mini last year, and today added new colors for the smaller speaker. The HomePod mini features a significantly smaller design than the original HomePod, but continues to feature the same Siri experience, powered by Apple Music and third-party services. Unlike the original HomePod selling for $299, the HomePod mini is priced at $99. The HomePod mini recently became available in more countries, including Austria, Ireland, and New Zealand.
R.I.P. I have four of the original HPs and one Mini. The sound quality from the originals is amazing for their size. The Mini pales in comparison (and yes I know it's less expensive). The originals were perfect for an office or bedroom.
Wednesday March 29, 2023 1:54 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will use a new ultra-low energy microprocessor allowing certain features like the new capacitive solid-state buttons to remain functional even when the handset is powered off or the battery has run out, according to a source that shared details on the MacRumors forums.
CAD-based render of new solid-state buttons on iPhone 15 Pro models The source of this rumor is ...
Wednesday March 29, 2023 9:58 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today announced that its 34th annual Worldwide Developers Conference will take place from Monday, June 5 to Friday, June 9. Like WWDC 2020, 2021, and 2022, WWDC 2023 will be an online event for the most part, and it will be open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple will provide online sessions and labs, which will allow...
Wednesday March 29, 2023 7:28 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models are rumored to feature a customizable Action button like the Apple Watch Ultra, according to a MacRumors forum member who leaked accurate details about the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models last year.
The source claimed the Action button will replace the Ring/Silent switch that has been included on every iPhone model since 2007. They did not...
Apple today released iOS 16.4, the fourth major update to the iOS 16 operating system that initially came out last September. iOS 16.4 comes two months after the launch of iOS 16.3, an update that added Security Keys for Apple ID.
iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. It can take a few minutes...
Apple today published a support document explaining why it decided to release a standalone Apple Music Classical app for classical music.
In short, Apple says the app was designed to support classical music's complex metadata:Classical music is different. It has longer and more detailed titles, multiple artists for each work, and hundreds of recordings of well-known pieces. The Apple Music...
Tuesday March 28, 2023 10:15 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a day after the launch of iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4.
Registered developers can opt in to the betas by opening up the Settings app, going to Software Update, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option and toggling on the iOS 16 Developer Beta. Note that an...
Tuesday March 28, 2023 1:50 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple has made the option to upgrade to new Home architecture available again with the release of iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, and macOS Ventura 13.3, after it temporarily pulled the update in December.
After updating Apple devices to the latest software, users can once again opt to upgrade any homes set up in the Home app to the new Home architecture, which Apple says brings faster, more reliable ...
Apple on March 27 released iOS 16.4, delivering 21 new emoji characters, support for Safari web push notifications, the return of the page-turning animation in the Books app, updates for the Podcasts app, and more.
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