Apple has discontinued the original HomePod smart speaker. The company will continue to make it available till the supplies last but will not be producing new units any further. The HomePod smart speaker was launched in 2018 and it arrived in India some two years later. Soon after the sale of HomePod in India, Apple introduced the HomePod mini smart speaker for Rs. 9,900. The tech giant says it wants to focus its efforts on the HomePod mini for now.
In an official statement to Gadgets 360, Apple confirmed that the original HomePod has been discontinued. Apple Care buyers will continue to get software and service support. “We are discontinuing the original HomePod, it will continue to be available while supplies last through the Apple Online Store, Apple Retail Stores, and Apple Authorised Resellers. Apple will provide HomePod customers with software updates and service and support through Apple Care,” the company said.
Apple also said that “HomePod mini has been a hit since its debut last fall” and it will be focusing its efforts on HomePod mini instead. As the name suggests, HomePod mini is a smaller version of HomePod and is priced at Rs. 9,990. The original HomePod, on the other hand, sets you back by Rs. 19,900 in India. It is still on sale on the online Apple Store in India, and should be available till stocks last. At the time of writing, both Space Grey and White colour models were available in stock. The speaker is also available at an EMI option of Rs. 2,342 per month.
The discontinuation of HomePod may also mean that Apple could be readying to bring another smart speaker into the market. HomePod marked Apple’s official entry into the smart speaker segment in 2018 and it has since launched only the mini version in the past three years. It should be noted that the company hasn’t officially confirmed any information on a new smart speaker yet.
Is HomePod mini the best smart speaker under Rs. 10,000? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.