Six weird but true facts about the HomePod 2

It’s been a busy week for Apple. On Tuesday we received new chips, Mac miniand MacBook Prosand Wednesday brought the return of Full-size HomePodwith a similar design and feature set as the original model as well as the same price of $299, about two years after it was discontinued.

And when you dig deeper, things get even weirder. The new HomePod is actually quite different from the original model, but in subtle and confusing ways that won’t be that noticeable to anyone who buys it. Here are five facts about the new HomePod that have us scratching our heads:

Apple redesigned it to look the same

At first glance (and second and third), the second-generation HomePod looks identical to the original model. It has the same round body, mesh exterior and screen, but there are minor differences. On the one hand, it is 4 mm shorter and 200 grams lighter. The screen at the top is now slightly concave, and the display is larger and easier to see. The “seamless mesh” from the original model is now “acoustically transparent mesh” and stretches a bit more on top. There’s a new Midnight color that looks a lot like a slightly darker shade of Space Gray. However, none of the changes will make much of a visual difference unless you’re comparing new and old side-by-side, so it seems odd that Apple went to the trouble to redesign the HomePod in such small ways.

You can’t create a stereo pair with the first generation HomePod

One of HomePod’s best features is its ability to create a stereo pair that “plays each channel in perfect harmony, creating a wider, more immersive soundstage than traditional stereo speakers.” It’s not a new feature, but there’s a catch: you can’t pair a new HomePod with an old one. For a stereo pair to work, you’ll need two identical HomePods: 1st Gen with 1st Gen; mines with mines; 2nd generation with 2nd generation. It makes logical sense since the two have different specs, but it sure would have been nice if Apple figured out a way to make the two play nice together.

It uses an Apple Watch chip instead of an iPhone chip

The original HomePod used Apple’s A8 processor, which debuted in the iPhone 6 a few years earlier, as “the brains behind advanced audio innovation.” When the HomePod mini arrived a few years later, Apple used the Apple Watch Series 5’s S5 chip to “achieve big sound from such a compact design.” The 2nd generation HomePod also uses an Apple Watch chip, the Apple Watch Series 7’s S7 processor, “to offer even more advanced computational audio.” That’s all well and good, but it’s hard not to think that the A12 or A13 will provide some future-proofing.

It still has a built-in power cord

One of the biggest downsides to the original HomePod was the integrated power cord—mainly because people naturally tried to unplug it and sometimes ended up ruining their speakers. It’s possible that Apple changed the connector to prevent this, but based on photos, the HomePod still has the same permanently attached power cable on the back of the device. Moving to a magnetic connector like the 24-inch iMac would be a nice improvement.

Foundry

Supports slower Wi-Fi than iPhone 6

Oddly enough, the new HomePod still has Bluetooth 5 instead of 5.3 (as found on the new Macs and iPhones), but it actually has slower Wi-Fi than the original model. According to the technical specifications, the first HomePod supports 802.11ac, better known as Wi-Fi 5, while the newer HomePod uses Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n). Maybe it’s too much to ask for Wi-Fi 6E when the new iPhones don’t even support it, but we’re surprised to see that the new HomePod uses a Wi-Fi standard as old as the iPhone 4.

Audio specs seem worse

Here’s the weirdest thing – based on audio specs, the new HomePod isn’t as good as the original model. While it certainly “provides next-level acoustics,” as Apple claims, a quick comparison of the tech specs shows two fewer horn tweeters (five vs. seven) and microphones (four vs. six). Of course, not all speakers and microphones are created equal, and sound processing matters a lot. It’s entirely possible that Apple could get equal or better sound from fewer speakers and microphones, but it’s strange that after two years, the old HomePod outperforms the new one on paper.