HomePod Launched Five Years Ago Today, Faced Several Setbacks Along the Way

Apple's original HomePod became available to customers five years ago today. Over the years, the smart speaker faced several setbacks, including a delayed launch, poor reviews of Siri, reports of lackluster sales, and even a temporary discontinuation.

HomePod 2017 Image
Apple first announced the HomePod at WWDC 2017 and planned to release the speaker in December of that year. However, the HomePod was ultimately delayed and ended up launching February 9, 2018, but only in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. Availability expanded to additional countries later that year, but the rollout was slow.

"HomePod is a magical new music experience from Apple," said Apple's former marketing chief Phil Schiller, in a February 2018 press release about the launch. "It brings advanced audio technologies like beam-forming tweeters, a high-excursion woofer and automatic spatial awareness, together with the entire Apple Music catalog and the latest Siri intelligence, in a simple, beautiful design that is so much fun to use."

The original HomePod received rave reviews for its sound quality, but opinions about Siri were far less favorable, as Apple's voice assistant had several shortcomings at the time. On the HomePod, Siri could not set multiple timers, lacked multi-user support, could not directly make and receive phone calls, could not answer as many questions as Amazon's Alexa or Google's Assistant, and had other limitations. Apple added many of these features to the HomePod with software updates over the following months and years.

While the HomePod's feature set gradually improved, multiple reports indicated that the speaker had lackluster sales and limited market share. Apple gave the HomePod a very rare price cut from $349 to $299 in April 2019 in an attempt to spur sales, but the device never became a runaway success and Apple ultimately discontinued it in March 2021 to focus its attention on the smaller HomePod mini that had launched four months earlier.

"HomePod mini has been a hit since its debut last fall, offering customers amazing sound, an intelligent assistant, and smart home control all for just $99," Apple explained at the time. "We are focusing our efforts on HomePod mini."

After the HomePod was discontinued, a niche market emerged for the speaker that resulted in the device fetching high resale prices on eBay.

Last month, Apple reversed course by introducing the second-generation HomePod with a virtually identical design as the original. The new HomePod has a larger backlit touch surface, five tweeters instead of seven, four microphones instead of six, an S7 chip instead of an A8 chip, a U1 chip for handing off music from an iPhone, and a new temperature and humidity sensor. The speaker launched last week and remains priced at $299.

Apple said it had "heard more interest than ever for the acoustics of a richer larger speaker," leading to the HomePod's return. Many reviewers said the new HomePod sounds largely the same as the original, and Siri has improved over the years, but it remains to be seen if the speaker will be any more successful than its predecessor.

Related Roundup: HomePod
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Neutral)

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro to Reverse iPhone X Design Decision

Monday July 7, 2025 9:46 am PDT by
Since the iPhone X in 2017, all of Apple's highest-end iPhone models have featured either stainless steel or titanium frames, but it has now been rumored that this design decision will be coming to an end with the iPhone 17 Pro models later this year. In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo today, the account Instant Digital said that the iPhone 17 Pro models will have an aluminum...
imac video apple feature

Apple Launching These 15+ Products Later This Year

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
The calendar has turned to July, meaning that 2025 is now more than half over. And while the summer months are often quiet for Apple, the company still has more than a dozen products coming later this year, according to rumors. Below, we have outlined at least 15 new Apple products that are expected to launch later this year, along with key rumored features for each. iPhone 17 Series iPho...
iOS 26 Feature

Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 3

Monday July 7, 2025 1:20 pm PDT by
Apple is continuing to refine and update iOS 26, and beta three features smaller changes than we saw in beta 2, plus further tweaks to the Liquid Glass design. Apple is gearing up for the next phase of beta testing, and the company has promised that a public beta is set to come out in July. Transparency In some apps like Apple Music, Podcasts, and the App Store, Apple has toned down the...
iPhone Car Key Kia

Here's Which Vehicles Offer iPhone Car Keys

Sunday July 6, 2025 3:03 pm PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. Apple has a web page with a list of vehicle models that ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iphone 17 pro render majin bu

New iPhone 17 Pro Renders Highlight Apple Logo and MagSafe Design Changes

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:43 pm PDT by
New renders today provide the best look yet relocated Apple logo and redesigned MagSafe magnet array of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Image via Majin Bu. Several of the design changes coming to the iPhone 17 Pro model have been rumored for some time, such as the elongated camera bump that spans the full width of the device, with the LiDAR Scanner and flash moving to the right side. ...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 17 Models Rumored to Feature Redesigned Dynamic Island

Monday July 7, 2025 7:38 am PDT by
iPhone 17 models will feature a redesigned Dynamic Island user interface, according to a post today from Digital Chat Station, an account with more than three million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The account has accurately leaked some information regarding future Apple products in the past. The account did not share any specific details about the alleged changes that are ...
Prime Day 25 Feature Warm Triad

The Best Prime Day Deals on AirPods, iPads, MacBooks, and More

Monday July 7, 2025 10:55 am PDT by
Amazon is back with its annual summertime Prime Day event, lasting for four days from July 8-11, the longest Prime Day yet. As it does every year, Prime Day offers shoppers a huge selection of deals across Amazon's storefront. With the event now underway, we're tracking numerous all-time low prices on Apple gear right now. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a...

Top Rated Comments

gnipgnop Avatar
32 months ago

$600 to get true stereo is a joke. You’d be better off getting a decent pair of bookcase speakers.
A) You’re going to need to buy more than just the bookshelf speakers if you want to stream music.

B) If you think $600 is expensive for audio equipment then you probably haven’t priced audio equipment before.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FSMBP Avatar
32 months ago
I'd get one if I could just plugin HDMI / optical audio into it... Seems too expensive to rely on AirPlay.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pnoyblazed Avatar
32 months ago
Love my original Homepods (all 8 of them)
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theluggage Avatar
32 months ago

I'd get one if I could just plugin HDMI / optical audio into it... Seems too expensive to rely on AirPlay.
The lack of any sort of audio in rules it out for me.

I think the main failure though is that the market saw it as a "home assistant" which led to silly apples-and-oranges comparisons with advertising-subsidised products from Amagoogle which were "trending" at the time. The real competition should have been "audiophile" bluetooth speakers from Naim, B&W, B&O etc. some of which actually made the Homepod look like a bargain...

It's interesting that the relaunch has come just when the home assistant market is reputedly tanking (although I take that with a slight pinch of salt, since Googlezon obviously sold them as loss-leaders).
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
32 months ago

$600 to get true stereo is a joke. You’d be better off getting a decent pair of bookcase speakers.
Can a decent pair of bookcase speakers understand my "Hey Siri, play Miles Davis" from across the room, and then start playing all of Miles Davis' music, without involving any other device (computer, phone/tablet, amplifier, etc), anywhere in my house?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rooster ? Avatar
32 months ago

A) You’re going to need to buy more than just the bookshelf speakers if you want to stream music.

B) If you think $600 is expensive for audio equipment then you probably haven’t priced audio equipment before.
…and C) You’re not going to get Dolby Atmos.

The lack of any sort of audio in rules it out for me.

I think the main failure though is that the market saw it as a "home assistant" which led to silly apples-and-oranges comparisons with advertising-subsidised products from Amagoogle which were "trending" at the time. The real competition should have been "audiophile" bluetooth speakers from Naim, B&W, B&O etc. some of which actually made the Homepod look like a bargain...

It's interesting that the relaunch has come just when the home assistant market is reputedly tanking (although I take that with a slight pinch of salt, since Googlezon obviously sold them as loss-leaders).
I’ve got B&O speakers with audio in, and never use it. I’ve Dolby atmos via eARC pass through with my OG HomePod pair and it sounds amazing with all content streamed via my ATV 4K, including PS5 and anything else connected to the tv. I personally don’t want wired connections. Just like others have said the ability to have more than one pair would be fantastic.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)