The second-gen Apple HomePod is down to $285 in a rare sale

The newest Apple HomePod speaker is on sale for $285 at B&H Photograph, which is $14 lower than shopping for from Apple straight. This is not the largest cash discount we have seen, and Apple beforehand bundled the gadget with a $50 present card throughout Black Friday. However offers of any type on the house speaker have been unusual because it arrived in early 2023, so this modest drop nonetheless represents the bottom worth we have seen in the previous few months. The low cost applies to each the black and white variations of the speaker.

Photograph by Billy Steele / Engadget

This low cost is not an all-time low, however offers of any type on Apple’s top-end good speaker have been unusual.

$285 at B&H Photo

We gave the second-generation HomePod a score of 84 in our assessment final yr. It will take advantage of sense for those who’re a very devoted Apple person who prioritizes audio high quality. It nonetheless works simply with different Apple units and providers, from iPhones to Apple TVs to Apple Music, and we typically discover it to sound richer and clearer than competing smart speakers from Amazon and Google. As a wise house gadget, it is appropriate with Matter and Thread on prime of Apple’s personal HomeKit protocol, so you need to use it to regulate a rising vary of safety cameras, thermostats, plugs and different good house equipment. It additionally has built-in temperature and humidity sensors, and its included mics do properly to select your voice by way of noise.

To be clear, that is nonetheless a dear and comparatively area of interest gadget. Audio system just like the Sonos 5 and Sonos Era 300 value extra however provide louder and extra dynamic sound high quality, whereas the Sonos Era 100 could also be a greater worth if you wish to preserve a bit extra cash. Apple’s personal HomePod Mini has almost the entire similar good house options if that is your foremost concern, whereas Google Assistant and Alexa customers ought to nonetheless look to Google’s Nest Audio or an Amazon Echo gadget. The HomePod has its personal points, too: Siri is not essentially the most succesful voice assistant, there is no Bluetooth audio, you’ll be able to’t customise its EQ and also you want a workaround to regulate Spotify through voice. Rumors of a touchscreen-enabled HomePod have additionally floated round over the previous yr. All that mentioned, for those who’re all-in on Apple, it is a respectable probability to avoid wasting on the corporate’s highest-end house speaker.

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