Original HomePod now sold out at online and in Apple Stores nationwide

AppleInsider · June 14, 2021 10:41AM

After a period of tight stock, both the white and space gray original HomePod models have now sold out and are unavailable either online or in Apple Stores in the US and Canada.

It's over, the original HomePod is now gone -- at least from Apple Stores

Following its discontinuation in March 2021, the original HomePod has been officially listed by Apple as available only while stock last. The space gray edition went out of stock quickly, but the white one has remained available until now.

In the US and Canada, the HomePod is still listed on Apple's online store and there remains a "Buy" button. However, both models now show as being out of stock online and unavailable for pickup in any stores.

Overseas, Apple's online stores from Japan, to France and Germany, list the HomePod as "availability reserved," or "subject to availability." However, they have also removed the "Buy" button.

Apple Ireland shows only the HomePod mini, and Apple Italy lists neither HomePod model. At present, the UK appears to be one of the few, or only, online Apple Stores with any stock.

UK listings show the white model as sold outline, but available for in-store pickup. The space gray version has fewer in-store pickup options, but still shows two-day delivery for online orders.

Despite being officially discontinued in March 2021, the HomePod was unexpectedly the subject of a new audio feature when the revised Apple TV 4K was released in May. The HomePod, and specifically not the HomePod mini, can be used in a stereo pair to listen to audio relayed via Apple TV 4K from any connected device.

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Kuyangkoh · June 14, 2021 1:20PM

Sad really….i uses mine for dolby atmos and spatial audio and boy it really rocks. Not surprised why it was sold out quick

athempel · June 14, 2021 2:06PM

Apple Ireland never sold the full size HomePod.

bakerzdosen · June 14, 2021 3:33PM

If I'd realized last August's $199 sale at BB was going to be the final one ever, I would have probably purchased 2 more at that time. Possibly 3.

I get that Apple has to make money, but the initial $400 price was just... way too much for the market to bear. It's a fantastic product, but $299 was really where it should have been priced initially and then dropped to $250. But 20/20 hindsight and all that...

With that said, I picked up a used one last week. I'll most likely pick up another if I can find one sub-$200 (which has been REALLY difficult to do.)

k2kw · June 14, 2021 3:36PM

Apple should have bought Sonos years ago. The HomePod joins the 2013 MacPro and Butterfly Keyboard/Touch Strip as failed products of the Ive era.

macxpress · June 14, 2021 4:20PM

I think two things that killed it.

1. It was priced too high.

2. The perception is still here that Siri sucks and the HomePod couldn’t do things other smart speakers could.

Buying Sonos wouldn’t have fixed the HomePod. The issue wasn’t with audio quality. It sounds amazing for what it is.

I think just by Apple pricing HomePod better would have made a world of difference. I have 2 and both were purchased well under the $299 price tag Apple wanted.

Beats · June 14, 2021 4:28PM

Great. Now they’ll be available on eBay for $800.

I was sure Apple would announce HomePod 2 soon after. Still hoping with older gen chips becoming cheaper (A8 was probably too old in 2021) and Apple launching Spatial and Lossless audio on Apple Music.

AppleZulu · June 14, 2021 5:32PM

This, like the similar fate of AirPort devices, seems wrong or out of place, given the other things Apple is currently up to. HomePod Mini is o.k., but doesn't sound nearly as good as the original device. The price point may indeed have been the problem. Presumably there are things down the pike that will exceed the original's processing power, but replacing them to upgrade - particularly if you bought more than one - may feel gratuitous, even if it's on a longer time-frame than people typically go through with other devices. Nonetheless, it seems odd, scrapping AirPort just as they're leaning into HomeKit, and now scrapping the original, computational-audio HomePod, just as they're leaning into lossless and spatial audio formats. Perhaps since HomePod mini is still a going endeavor, we're seeing a hard break in the upper end of this product line to somehow make it easier to reintroduce something more innovative that will fill that space.

The new third-party Siri sounds like a departure, until you realize that it's a protocol for creating third-party dumb audio terminals, which shunt the work over to a HomePod mini and then reply with whatever the HomePod mini sends back. That's not a recipe for a Sonos HomePod.

To me, anyway, it feels like there's another HomePod-sized show waiting to drop.

hmlongco · June 14, 2021 5:51PM

I think Apple should have gone all-in with this. Apple could have added a HomePod Bass to the mix. I could easily see a system with two HomePods next to a TV as a stereo pair, two mini's as rear-channel, and then add a HomePod Bass subwoofer to the mix.

All wireless, and all Dolby Atmos. I tried two HomePods as a Dolby Atmos stereo pair sync up with the Apple TV, but while the sound was good, it was simply lacking bass and--of course--anything coming out of the rear channel.

I just paid $1,500 for a system that matched my LG 75" TV, and I would have probably spent the same on a multi-pod home theater experience.

DnykjpRfC6fnBs · June 14, 2021 7:06PM

Kuyangkoh said:

Sad really….i uses mine for dolby atmos and spatial audio and boy it really rocks. Not surprised why it was sold out quick

Yes it really is sad. Apple could have done so much better by perhaps including Bluetooth and perhaps a 3.5mm jack. Those are some of the complaints I have seen online. I bought 2 HomePod after they were discontinued. Too bad Apple didn’t market them as much more than a run of the mill smart speaker. Although I have seen Apple do this in the past come out with something I thought was good and they left it on the vine to wither and die. I know the talk is now a video speaker. Why? I can FaceTime or Facebook/messenger anyone I want with my iPhone or iPad. I think that would be a less of a seller than HomePod but I’ll admit I am just Average Joe Consumer. That’s why the ladies and gents there make more in a couple of years there than I would probably my whole working career. That’s ok. They do come out with a lot of hits and a few misses.

DnykjpRfC6fnBs · June 14, 2021 7:10PM

bakerzdosen said:

If I'd realized last August's $199 sale at BB was going to be the final one ever, I would have probably purchased 2 more at that time. Possibly 3.

I get that Apple has to make money, but the initial $400 price was just... way too much for the market to bear. It's a fantastic product, but $299 was really where it should have been priced initially and then dropped to $250. But 20/20 hindsight and all that...

With that said, I picked up a used one last week. I'll most likely pick up another if I can find one sub-$200 (which has been REALLY difficult to do.)

Yes I’d imagine that would be the difficult task. I have 2 so I’m not looking to pick anymore up, like on eBay perhaps, I’m sure they have new ones there at a markup new but no idea on used ones

daven · June 14, 2021 11:21PM

I bought my first one on sale from B&H as a birthday gift to myself and to see what it could do. It was a little rough around the edges as far as Siri but the sound was very good for its size. I used it for the sound output from my bedroom Apple TV. It was annoying that you had to constantly reset the sound output from Apple TV but Apple fixed that. Then Apple updated the operating system to make stereo pairing and fixed the Apple TV output flaw so I picked up a matching Homepod also on sale. I couldn’t be more pleased. The sound is great for a mini home theater in my bedroom. Yes, it doesn’t have bone rattling base but the base is exceptionally good for a speaker that size. In summary, I’m a happy customer and I hope support continues for a long time but the whole thing does expose the limited life of smart speakers compared to ‘dumb’ speakers which can always be upgraded by buying a new receiver.

rcfa · June 15, 2021 12:02PM

The HomePod’s failure is purely a marketing failure.

For a mono smart speaker/voice assistant it’s too expensive and overpriced….

….BUT as a stereo pair for music listening and AirPlay2 target, it’s awesome. And for that it never was too expensive either: any comparatively good sounding pair of active speakers or passive speakers plus amplifier, costs at least as much, and likely needs a subwoofer or needs to be considerably bigger to get as low and tight a bass.

Apple should have sold and promoted stereo pairs with two in a box. Maybe that’s the only way it should have been sold, as for little mono speakers and voice assistants around the house, the HomePod mini are sufficient.

I only ever bought or recommend them as pairs, either for not-too-big living rooms, offices, bedrooms, with or without aTVs. And they shine in that role and were always a decent value for the money.

The HomePod is not a product failure, it’s a marketing failure: anyone who cares about sound will want stereo pairs, anyone who doesn’t won’t pay the price of one/two HomePods. Yet the ability to couple them as stereo pairs was neither pushed nor advertised, you had to find it in the small print or a FAQ.

Pathetic job of the marketing people, who obviously had no clue about the home audio market. Sad, really sad!

MauiMac5341 · June 15, 2021 1:11PM

Kuyangkoh said:

Sad really….i uses mine for dolby atmos and spatial audio and boy it really rocks. Not surprised why it was sold out quick

I agree 100%, I hope Apple comes out with a replacement. Good to know though, that the minis also support Dolby Atmos and lossless on TVOS 15, there is supposed to be an update to the HomePods to allow this directly before official release. But seeing all the haters said the minis couldn't support this and never would, it has to be conspired a win. But to quote an ENT, they are so small

MauiMac5341 · June 15, 2021 1:19PM

"I think two things that killed it.

1. It was priced too high.

2. The perception is still here that Siri sucks and the HomePod couldn’t do things other smart speakers could.

Buying Sonos wouldn’t have fixed the HomePod. The issue wasn’t with audio quality. It sounds amazing for what it is.

I think just by Apple pricing HomePod better would have made a world of difference. I have 2 and both were purchased well under the $299 price tag Apple wanted. "

RIP Google Home MAX (priced even higher, and not as good as HomePod). Prices are not made up, I supposed that Googles better product and apples along with better quality from Sonos are all in the same range seems to say it costs money to get the features and build quality right.

I think the influencers have declared war on Siri with a lot of false narrative. For me, it works great and performs better than Google. I admit there are Google features that I have no interest in using, like animal sounds, fart sounds, etc, but for the ones I use they are equivalent, but Siri seems to understand me better - could be those lousy little google hockey pucks though

MauiMac5341 · June 15, 2021 1:23PM

rcfa said:

The HomePod’s failure is purely a marketing failure.

For a mono smart speaker/voice assistant it’s too expensive and overpriced….

….BUT as a stereo pair for music listening and AirPlay2 target, it’s awesome. And for that it never was too expensive either: any comparatively good sounding pair of active speakers or passive speakers plus amplifier, costs at least as much, and likely needs a subwoofer or needs to be considerably bigger to get as low and tight a bass.

Apple should have sold and promoted stereo pairs with two in a box. Maybe that’s the only way it should have been sold, as for little mono speakers and voice assistants around the house, the HomePod mini are sufficient.

I only ever bought or recommend them as pairs, either for not-too-big living rooms, offices, bedrooms, with or without aTVs. And they shine in that role and were always a decent value for the money.

The HomePod is not a product failure, it’s a marketing failure: anyone who cares about sound will want stereo pairs, anyone who doesn’t won’t pay the price of one/two HomePods. Yet the ability to couple them as stereo pairs was neither pushed nor advertised, you had to find it in the small print or a FAQ.

Pathetic job of the marketing people, who obviously had no clue about the home audio market. Sad, really sad!

They did sell them in two packs, just like you can get minis, in 1, 2,3 and 4 packs. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/combo/smart-speakers/c77b938a-af09-4647-9487-f7bffa357369

Maybe on the stereo marketing,but I saw marketing for it, so I don't know. The do sound great as mono though depending on the room size, and the round shape is much better at placement than the Google Home max (also discontinued)

MauiMac5341 · June 15, 2021 1:30PM

hmlongco said:

I think Apple should have gone all-in with this. Apple could have added a HomePod Bass to the mix. I could easily see a system with two HomePods next to a TV as a stereo pair, two mini's as rear-channel, and then add a HomePod Bass subwoofer to the mix.

All wireless, and all Dolby Atmos. I tried two HomePods as a Dolby Atmos stereo pair sync up with the Apple TV, but while the sound was good, it was simply lacking bass and--of course--anything coming out of the rear channel.

I just paid $1,500 for a system that matched my LG 75" TV, and I would have probably spent the same on a multi-pod home theater experience.

Lacking in bass? the complaints were it had too much bass. Overall I find it an extremely realistic sounding speaker, I am not into heavy bass music, so maybe that is why I don't see eye to eye (hear ear to ear more apt?). I could see if you wanted deep rumbling sound that shakes the floor for a home theater, it is not what you want, but I don't want that. You might be pleased to note that the minis also can play lossless and Dolby Atmos and be used as AppleTV speakers (TVOS 15). But yah, the bass won't rattle your teeth or massage your feet, and the neighbors won't complain

Original HomePod now sold out at online and in Apple Stores nationwide

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