Apple's HomePod Smart Speaker Available for Pre-Order at $349: Design, Price and Availability, Specifications

Apple has finally entered the smart speaker market with its long-awaited Siri speaker namely HomePod.

Similar to its rivals, Amazon Echo and Google Home, the Siri-enabled HomePod speaker will be able to respond to voice commands and play music, set alarms, control smart devices and search for information online. Apple is claiming that the device will blow the competition away on sound quality.

Release Date

Apple has officially confirmed that the HomePod will launch on 9th February, and it is available to pre-order from Friday, 26th January. It will be first available in US, UK, Australia, France and Germany later this spring.

HomePod Price and Availability

The HomePod will cost £319 in the UK and $349 in the US.

You will be able to order a HomePod from Apple's online store and also will be able to buy one from one of Apple's high street stores.

HomePod was originally set for release in 2017, but was delayed. Despite the wait, HomePod will ship without support for multi-room audio and stereo pairing which will come with a later software update.

Apps that will able to connect to Homepod

Music apps

When it comes to Apple Music apps, HomePod will be able to do things like play a certain song, album, artist or genre on command. Also, it will let you know information such as when a song was recorded or who the Artist was.

Messaging, lists and Notes apps

HomePod will be able to synchronized with Messaging, lists and Notes app, will let you know about text messages which will arrive, on command and more.

Podcast and News

The beta version of iOS 11.2.5 includes a news feature, which indicates that Apple is planning to add the feature in iOS version which asks a HomePod to read a Podcast news summary on command.

HomePod Design

HomePod comes with a cylindrical design. Available in either white or Space Grey colour variant, the HomePod will come with 7 inches tall, and will cover almost head to toe in a "seamless 3D mesh fabric".

There is space at the top of HomePod especially designed for Siri interface having a small screen that lights up with a Siri waveform when he/she is assisting you with something.

HomePod Specifications

Apple's HomePod is powered by A8 chip. It comes with the High-excursion woofer having custom amplifier. It supports Seven horn-loaded tweeters along with six microphones comes to it.

HomePod includes the Internal low-frequency calibration microphone for automatic bass correction. HomePod will support 1GB of RAM with a screen resolution of 272 x 340 pixels.

Apple's HomePod weighs 2.5kg, comes with the dimension of 172mm x 142mm and will be available in two colour variant - White and Space Grey. Along with it, HomePod supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi with MIMO and AirPlay 2 with multi-room support.