HomePod is Apple’s newest hardware, and the company’s big play to put Apple Music and Siri in the center of your living room. It’s an interesting product, one that seems to be making a simultaneous move against Sonos’ industry-leading, multi-room audio speakers and smart assistant hubs like the Amazon Echo and Google Home.
The problem? HomePod is expensive. At $350, a single HomePod speaker costs more than many of its competitors in either product category. Smart assistant speakers aren’t even close — an Amazon Echo costs $180; the Echo Show costs $230; Google Home sells for $129; and perhaps most significantly, an Echo Dot is just $50. And Sonos’ speakers — which aren’t exactly known across the industry for being the cheapest line of products — also undercut the HomePod when it comes to price: a Sonos Play:1 costs $199, while a Play:3 runs for $299. Only the Play:5, which is hardly comparable from a speaker standpoint to Apple’s offering, is more expensive than HomePod.
Apple’s argument is that the HomePod is worth the cost because it combines smart features and great sound, which is actually comparable to the current market. You can pick up a Sonos Play:3 and an Amazon Echo Dot for the same $349 price. But the HomePod is also limited in ways that Amazon and Sonos aren’t.
Right now, the only music service that seems to be supported on HomePod directly is (unsurprisingly) Apple Music. And while it seems likely that you’ll be able to play music from another service to HomePod through the newly announced AirPlay 2 system, that’s still the weakest music support of any of the HomePod’s competitors, all of which support direct playback of services like Spotify, Pandora, and, in Sonos’ case, just about every music service ever made. It’s the same story on the other side of the divide, too — while HomePod supports Siri and HomeKit, it’s still as locked down as ever. Its abilities as a home assistant are limited to whatever Apple allows you to use it for, instead of the open platform that Amazon has made with Alexa Skills, or that Google would like to foster by allowing developers to build out things for Home.
That said, the HomePod is still months from release, and there’s undoubtably a lot we don’t know. Early reports of the sound quality are good, and there’s always the option for Apple to add support for other music services or Siri integrations down the line.
Given that the HomePod isn’t out until December, you’ve got some time to make a decision, and a list of specifications is still no match for actually comparing how each speaker sounds in person with the music you like. But if you’d like to start seeing how things look now, here’s how the various smart speakers and home assistants stack up against each other on paper:
Apple HomePod Spec Comparison
Categories | HomePod | Amazon Echo | Echo Dot | Google Home | Sonos Play:1 | Sonos Play:3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Price | $350 | $179.99 | $49.99 | $129.00 | $199.00 | $299.00 |
Speakers | 7 tweeters, 4-inch subwoofer | 2.5-inch tweeter, 2-inch woofer | Small built-in speaker | 2-inch driver and dual 2-inch passive radiators | 3.5-inch mid-woofer, tweeter | Two 2.75-inch mid-woofers, 1-inch tweeter |
Microphones | 6-microphone array | 7-microphone array | 7-microphone array | 2-microphone array | N/A | N/A |
Smart assistant | Siri | Alexa | Alexa | Assistant | Alexa through connected Echo(in private beta) | Alexa through connected Echo(in private beta) |
Processor | Apple A8 | Texas Instruments DM3725CUS100 | Texas Instruments DM3725 | Marvell 88DE3006 | ARM Cortex A9 | PowerPC e300 |
Multi-room audio? | AirPlay 2 | Supposedly forthcoming between Echos | Supposedly forthcoming between Echos | Chromecast Audio | Sonos | Sonos |
Music services supported | Apple Music | Amazon Music, Prime Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Spotify Premium, Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Audible | Amazon Music, Prime Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Spotify Premium, Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Audible | Google Play Music, Spotify Premium, Pandora, YouTube Music, TuneIn, iHeartRadio | Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Deezer, TuneIn, Napster, Microsoft Groove, Slacker, Stitcher, Tidal, and more | Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Deezer, TuneIn, Napster, Microsoft Groove, Slacker, Stitcher, Tidal, and more |
Third-party developer support | As of now, no | Yes, Alexa Skills | Yes, Alexa Skills | Yes, Assistant actions | Only through Sonos partnerships | Only through Sonos partnerships |
Interface | Siri waveform / touch panel | Light ring, buttons | Light ring, buttons | LED indicators, touch panel | Volume and play / pause buttons | Volume and play / pause buttons |
Connectivity | Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi |
Weight | 5.5 pounds | 2.36 pounds | 0.36 pounds | 1.05 pounds | 4.08 pounds | 5.71 pounds |
Dimensions (in.) | 6.8 x 5.6 x 5.6 | 9.25 x 3.3 x 3.3 | 9.25 x 3.3 x 3.3 | 5.62 x 3.79 x 3.79 | 6.36 x 4.69 x 4.69 | 5.2 x 10.6 x 6.3 |
Correction: Updated chart to include TuneIn and iHeartRadio for Google Home, as well as note the touch panel on the Home for controls. Also included Sonos processor information.