The last Apple HomePod speaker It's on sale for $285 at B&H Photo, which is $14 less than buying it directly from Apple. This isn't the biggest cash discount we've seen, and Apple previously including the device with a $50 gift card during Black Friday. But deals of any kind on the home speaker have been rare since it arrived in early 2023, so this modest drop still represents the lowest price we've seen in recent months. The discount applies to the black and white versions of the speaker.
Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget
This discount isn't the lowest ever, but deals of any kind on Apple's high-end smart speaker have been rare.
We gave the second-generation HomePod a score of 84 in our review last year. It will make more sense if you are a particularly dedicated Apple user who prioritizes audio quality. It still works easily with other Apple devices and services, from iPhones to Apple TV and Apple Music, and we generally found it to sound richer and clearer than competing smart speakers from Amazon and Google. As a smart home device, it supports Matter and Thread in addition to Apple's HomeKit protocol, so you can use it to control a growing range of security cameras, thermostats, plugs, and other smart home accessories. It also has built-in temperature and humidity sensors, and the included microphones detect your voice well through noise.
To be clear, this is still an expensive and relatively specialized device. Speakers like the Sonos Five and Sonos Era 300 cost more but offer louder, more dynamic sound quality, while the Sonos Era 100 may be a better value if you want to save a little more money. Apple's HomePod Mini has almost all of the same smart home features if that's your main concern, while Google Assistant and Alexa users should still look into Google's Nest Audio or an Amazon Echo device. The HomePod has its own problems, too: Siri isn't the most capable voice assistant, it doesn't have Bluetooth audio, you can't customize its equalizer, and you need a solution to control Spotify via voice. Rumors about a HomePod with a touchscreen have also circulated over the past year. All that said, if you're going with Apple, this is a good opportunity to save on the company's high-end home speaker.
Continue @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget offers newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
