Apple’s New HomePod Smart Speaker Previewed at WWDC

Apple HomePod White Lifestyle Australia

At this year’s WWDC, Apple’s annual developer’s conference, Apple have surprised many by announcing a brand new device called HomePod. HomePod is an intelligent home speaker, providing high-quality audio and smart features thanks to the native integration of Siri and Apple Music – which at this point in 2017 now features a library of 40 million songs.

HomePod goes beyond many other home speakers currently available and will automatically sense its position in a room, adjust audio automatically, and learn the habits or preferences of users. HomePod has been announced for release in December 2017 for select countries, including Australia.

“Designed to work with an Apple Music subscription for access to over 40 million songs, HomePod provides deep knowledge of personal music preferences and tastes and helps users discover new music. HomePod features a large, Apple-designed woofer for deep, clean bass, a custom array of seven beam-forming tweeters that provide pure high-frequency acoustics with incredible directional control and powerful technologies built right in to preserve the richness and intent of the original recordings.”

With HomePod Apple aims to reimagine how we listen to music in the home, just as they were able to achieve when the iPod was first released and changed the way we personally listen to music. With its portable design (at 7 inches tall), intuitive smart functions including Siri integration, powerful speaker technology, and more, HomePod will act as not only a premium home speaker, but as a useful wireless assistant by providing information such as weather, news and sports, and control options for other HomeKit smart devices.

Apple HomePod Siri Black

Key Features

  • Upward-facing woofer, combined with a custom A8 chip (Apple have described this as ‘the brains behind the advanced audio innovations’), which allows bass management and enables the speaker to deliver deep/clean bass and low distortion
  • Room-sensing technology which will automatically determine the HomePod’s position in a room, whether it be in a corner, on a table or bookshelf, etc. and then optimise the speaker for the most immersive listening experience
  • Multi-directional, six-microphone configuration with ‘advanced echo cancellation’ that will allow Siri (featuring an indicator to show when Siri is engaged, along with touch control navigation) to determine where listeners are in a room and enable them to interact with the speaker – even when loud music is playing
  • Simple setup and automatic detection so that high quality audio can be balanced through the two speakers and played instantly

Australian Pricing and Release Date

HomePod will officially go on sale in Australia in December of this year with white and space gray colour configurations. HomePod is compatible with iPhone 5s and later, running iOS 11 (to be released in Spring).

Apple has confirmed pricing for HomePod in the US at $349, however, will release local pricing later in the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqlz_RL3_UA

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