HomePod, Siri-based smart speaker, Apple Inc., Cupertino, California, USA

Apple is reportedly working on an Amazon Echo competitor. Here's what it would need to be a success.

Click to expand...

Apple has officially announced the HomePod speaker yesterday, which the company claims will reinvent music in homes like the iPod did for music on the go.

Click to expand...

Apple TV support? Bluetooth? These are the five burning questions we have about the HomePod.

Click to expand...

The new HomePod is a speaker first and foremost, and it's part of a long tradition of music focused Apple products.

Click to expand...

The smart speaker gets a release date after initial delays. Preorders begin Friday, but the HomePod won't come with every feature at launch.

Click to expand...

If you’ve been waiting and waiting for Apple’s entry into the smart home speaker race, today’s the big day to at least pre-order the new device. That’s right, it’s January 26th, and if you get in line today, you’ll likely receive one of the first Apple HomePod speakers by around February 9th. We were able to play around with one for about an hour to get some early impressions, and so far, so good. First off: It does sound pretty amazing.

The HomePod features a central woofer and seven high-frequency drivers, and it seemed like wherever we were in the room, sound quality was very good – and quite loud. The HomePod’s built-in microphones sniff out your room’s acoustics and set up the sound accordingly, and it does a solid job of it. Speaking of setup, it was a breeze, as you’d likely expect from an Apple device. It also looks pretty good: Stylish but also low-profile, and it comes in two colors – so far.

One music note: Siri will only control Apple Music by voice, not Spotify or Pandora and so on, but you can route those streaming tunes to the HomePod from your iPhone if need be. Siri worked as expected, although we had to ask twice a few times when the music was loud. And of course it works great with HomeKit-capable smart home toys. So is it perfect? Not quite. Check out our hands-on review and then decide if you want to drop $350 on it.

Click to expand...

Apple’s HomePod will arrive in just a few weeks, and we just spent an hour listening to what it’s capable of.

Click to expand...

The $349 Apple HomePod speaker sounds great and controls your smart home.

Click to expand...

The HomePod is Apple’s answer to the Amazon Echo, the Google Home, the Sonos One, and every other smart speaker out there with a voice assistant built-in. It’s a $349 speaker with Siri built-in — the basic idea is pretty simple. It comes in two colors, it’s covered in a spongy fabric with a touch display at the top, and it’s surprisingly heavy. The HomePod will be released February 9th.

Click to expand...

It's couch time as we take your questions about the new Apple HomePod. Our very own Gareth Beavis has been testing it and with the help of Andrew London and yourselves, will deep dive into exactly what he makes of Apple's first smart speaker.

Click to expand...

Megan answers some viewer questions about the $349 Apple Homepod.

Click to expand...

Apple's long awaited HomePod smart speaker is here! Packed with some surprising sound quality and a lot of audio processing tech, the HomePod brings Siri into your smarthome ecosystem. HomePod can control Apple HomeKit enabled smart devices like lights, outlets and thermostats.

Watch the unboxing experience and our first impressions of Apple's HomePod. A full review is coming very soon.

Click to expand...