There's a Space Gray HomePod shortage - but it probably doesn't mean much

Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2021
There is no available stock of Apple's Space Gray HomePod internationally, but given the last year, it probably doesn't mean much -- if anything at all.

Black HomePod
Black HomePod


French Apple site Consomac is reporting what, in translation, it's calling "an amazing shortage of black HomePod." The site speculates that this means an end to the Space Gray model, but bases this chiefly on the mistaken belief that it's out of stock in America, too.

"The availability of the large HomePod model in its black version has suddenly deteriorated," Consomac says in translation, "there are now eight to ten weeks of waiting on the Apple Store, and zero stock in store. A totally opposite situation to the white model, which is available for delivery the day after the order and also in stock in store.

"This strange situation is found in the United States, where ordering a black model is no longer even possible!" continues the site. "'Not available at the moment,"' says Apple without saying more."

"It may simply be a supply glitch, but it is also tempting to see here the first signs of a decline in stocks in anticipation of a future revision," says Consomac.

Apple's US site is showing "not available," which is unusual but not unknown. Over the last year, the pandemic has seen this pop up from time to time on products like the iPad Pro, iMac, and both the Intel and M1 Mac mini.

The current listing in France for the black HomePod
The current listing in France for the black HomePod


It is true that at present French customers will have to wait between eight weeks and 10 weeks for the black HomePod. German residents have to wait between three weeks and four weeks. However, customers in the UK, Spain, Japan, and Australia, all have the black HomePod available for immediate purchase and delivery.

Rather than any kind of indication of a revision coming, it's more a reflection of the complexities of supplying hardware worldwide.

Shoppers looking to purchase the Space Gray HomePod can find it at both TigerDirect and Best Buy. Apple Authorized Reseller B&H Photo is also accepting orders for MQHW2LL/A, but with a two to four week wait, indicating there are inventory constraints in the supply chain.

The HomePod has not been significantly updated or redesigned since its launch in 2017. It has, though, been followed more recently by the HomePod mini in 2020.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Ouch! They thought they had a scoop.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 14
    How about the wrong conclusion concerning the failure of the hinge on the MagSafe Duo Charger? Wasn't it supposed to fail after being opened/closed a couple of hundred times according to this site?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 14
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    How about the wrong conclusion concerning the failure of the hinge on the MagSafe Duo Charger? Wasn't it supposed to fail after being opened/closed a couple of hundred times according to this site?
    That's not a "wrong conclusion." We tested two to failure.

    It's plastic. It's going to fatigue-fail with hundreds of open and close cycles. Apple can't escape physics.
    edited March 2021 elijahgAlex1N
  • Reply 4 of 14
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    Surely the smarts in a HomePod are enough to drive a whole speaker/wifi mesh network? Apple needs to start thinking beyond individual products.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 14
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    I just want to buy another one when they are discounted.  I got the first one a few years back on a good discount before the holidays and will buy another when I can find one.  No big hurry.  
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 14
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    With the HP mini out, are people still buying these overpriced beasts? Buy two for stereo and you are in the stratosphere.

    It really needs a processor update, some software work to improve Siri performance, and a drop in price. A big one.

    Actually, I don’t know why Apple hasn’t made a decent soundbar/HomeKit hub and subwoofer combo TBH. It would have a lot of synergy with Apple TV+
  • Reply 7 of 14
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    entropys said:
    With the HP mini out, are people still buying these overpriced beasts? Buy two for stereo and you are in the stratosphere.

    It really needs a processor update, some software work to improve Siri performance, and a drop in price. A big one.

    Actually, I don’t know why Apple hasn’t made a decent soundbar/HomeKit hub and subwoofer combo TBH. It would have a lot of synergy with Apple TV+

    Definitely not overpriced. I have a combination of both models throughout the house. HomePods may not be your choice of speaker, but if you are at all serious about audio quality, $600/pair certainly cannot be considered "in the stratosphere".

    What exactly are you missing from the processor? Any Siri improvements will come on the back end so which device you use to access Siri is irrelevant. There is no Siri upgrade that you can give to the device itself.
    edited March 2021 n2itivguywatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 14
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    mike1 said:
    entropys said:
    With the HP mini out, are people still buying these overpriced beasts? Buy two for stereo and you are in the stratosphere.

    It really needs a processor update, some software work to improve Siri performance, and a drop in price. A big one.

    Actually, I don’t know why Apple hasn’t made a decent soundbar/HomeKit hub and subwoofer combo TBH. It would have a lot of synergy with Apple TV+

    There is no Siri upgrade that you can give to the device itself.
    Siri needs a brain transplant. Or at least rewritten from scratch. It's total crap and getting worse as time goes on. Latest issue in a very long line is shortcuts just plain don't work anymore. "Hey Siri, run <shortcut name>" results in the light coming on, then promptly going out with no response. No variation on how I say it changes the outcome. Shortcuts work fine on my phone. The controls in the Home app are out of sync almost all the time too.

    I could list 20 pretty serious Siri related issues with HP. The HP and the whole ecosystem around it feels like a beta. I bought it knowing Siri was pretty crap, and though this would push them to improve it. But I was unfortunately very mistaken. It's so buggy I would never buy one again, and regret buying the two I do have (at full £350 launch price).
    anantksundaram
  • Reply 9 of 14
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    mike1 said:
    entropys said:
    With the HP mini out, are people still buying these overpriced beasts? Buy two for stereo and you are in the stratosphere.

    It really needs a processor update, some software work to improve Siri performance, and a drop in price. A big one.

    Actually, I don’t know why Apple hasn’t made a decent soundbar/HomeKit hub and subwoofer combo TBH. It would have a lot of synergy with Apple TV+

    Definitely not overpriced. I have a combination of both models throughout the house. HomePods may not be your choice of speaker, but if you are at all serious about audio quality, $600/pair certainly cannot be considered "in the stratosphere".

    What exactly are you missing from the processor? Any Siri improvements will come on the back end so which device you use to access Siri is irrelevant. There is no Siri upgrade that you can give to the device itself.
    It’s is the SOC from the iPhone 6. It might be a factor in Siri being a bit laggy, maybe not.  Regardless it is long in the tooth and probably in short supply. 
    $600;USD can buy you some pretty impressive sounding speakers that would be quite superior to homepods.  Homepods have good sound compared to most smart speakers, but not compared to hifi loudspeakers. It sort of fits in the middle.
    Alex1N
  • Reply 10 of 14
    Interesting theory but I have another one. The pandemic lockdowns have encouraged existing HomePod customers to buy more units and also encouraged more customers in the Apple eco-system to try their first one.

    Exhibit (sample size 1 family):
    I bought the original space grey HomePod as soon as it launched. Very happy. Later when the iOS upgrade allowing speaker sets and better movie experiences then I bought another. I bought two HomePod minis for the kids bedrooms. Later I broke up the original HomePod speaker set and moved one to another room and enjoyed music playing around the house. 

    We have a legacy Bose wifi speaker that we aim to retire soon and replace with yet another HomePod and maybe add a few more to other rooms.

    This is also the year I went from 0 to 25 Homekit devices and whole house mesh wifi. 

    Year on year the Apple ecosystem just becomes better and better. My kids LOVE talking to Siri about many things and HomePods are a fantastic way for them to ask questions and request music. The speech recognition is now so good that it can even understand a multi-lingual three year old. The joy on her face when she gets her children's songs played is fantastic.

    People say HomePod is one of Apple's duds.. I fully disagree.. it is one of their lowkey barnstorming success stories especially when combined with Apple One Family subscription. I will buy more HomePods for the family and for my extended family. If Apple upgrades, I upgrade. End of story.
    mike1watto_cobraAlex1N
  • Reply 11 of 14
    ssalbssalb Posts: 14member
    elijahg said:
    mike1 said:
    entropys said:
    With the HP mini out, are people still buying these overpriced beasts? Buy two for stereo and you are in the stratosphere.

    It really needs a processor update, some software work to improve Siri performance, and a drop in price. A big one.

    Actually, I don’t know why Apple hasn’t made a decent soundbar/HomeKit hub and subwoofer combo TBH. It would have a lot of synergy with Apple TV+

    There is no Siri upgrade that you can give to the device itself.
    Siri needs a brain transplant. Or at least rewritten from scratch. It's total crap and getting worse as time goes on. Latest issue in a very long line is shortcuts just plain don't work anymore. "Hey Siri, run <shortcut name>" results in the light coming on, then promptly going out with no response. No variation on how I say it changes the outcome. Shortcuts work fine on my phone. The controls in the Home app are out of sync almost all the time too.

    I could list 20 pretty serious Siri related issues with HP. The HP and the whole ecosystem around it feels like a beta. I bought it knowing Siri was pretty crap, and though this would push them to improve it. But I was unfortunately very mistaken. It's so buggy I would never buy one again, and regret buying the two I do have (at full £350 launch price).

    I agree, its very frustrating. I've had my Homepod about 10 months and in that time I've had to reset and fully set it up again four times. Siri from HomePod "Who is Speaking", Dropped calls while making calls from HomePod after a few minutes talking. Not using my contacts to make a call for a business in my contacts, instead going to the web to looks for the information. Siri, send message to XYZ, sorry I can't find XYZ in your contacts. It works great for a while after resetting and setting it up again, but eventually I start having issues.
    At one point called AppleCare support and made arrangements to send it in for repair, but it started working again shortly after that, so canceled the repair order.
    My Phone and WIFI access point are usually within 15 feet of the HomePod

    The only thing that seems to work consistently is asking what the weather is, turning on and off lights and changing the thermostat temp, timers and AppleMusic.

    elijahg
  • Reply 12 of 14
    thedbathedba Posts: 762member
    mcdave said:
    Surely the smarts in a HomePod are enough to drive a whole speaker/wifi mesh network? Apple needs to start thinking beyond individual products.
    I'm puzzled at your last statement. 
    Apple is already thinking eco-system and not individual products. 
    Example,  by bringing an iPhone close to an AppleTV or HomePod you are automatically setting either one up. I would say that is thinking beyond individual products, don't you think? 
  • Reply 13 of 14
    jcs2305jcs2305 Posts: 1,336member
    The HomePod has not been significantly updated or redesigned since its launch in 2017. It has, though, been followed more recently by the HomePod mini in 2020.

    Wasn't the original HomePod released in February 2018?

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 14
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    mike1 said:
    Ouch! They thought they had a scoop.
    Only for you to find out one day later that they did. :)

    king editor the grateAlex1Nelijahg
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