Final week was a busy one for Apple. On Tuesday we obtained new chips, the Mac mini and the MacBook Professional, and Wednesday introduced the stunning return of the full-size HomePod, with an analogous design to the unique mannequin and the identical $299 price ticket, roughly two years later. it was discontinued.

And while you dig into it, issues get even weirder. The brand new HomePod is not a carbon copy of the unique mannequin, however in refined, complicated ways in which will not be as noticeable to anybody shopping for one. Listed here are 5 information in regards to the new HomePod which have us scratching our heads:

Apple redesigned it to look the identical

At first look (and second and third), the second technology HomePod seems to be similar to the unique mannequin. It has the identical round physique, mesh exterior, and display screen, however there are slight variations. For one, it is 4mm shorter and 200 grams lighter. The display screen on the prime is now barely recessed, and the display screen is bigger and simpler to see. The “seamless mesh material” of the unique mannequin is now “acoustically clear mesh material” and stretches slightly extra on prime. There is a new Midnight colour that appears lots like a barely darker shade of House Gray. Not one of the modifications are going to make a lot of a visible distinction until you are evaluating a brand new one and an previous one aspect by aspect, although, so it appears odd that Apple went to the difficulty of redesigning the HomePod so small.

You possibly can’t create a stereo pair with a 1st technology HomePod

The most effective options of the HomePod is its potential to create a stereo pair that “reproduces every channel in good concord, making a wider and extra immersive soundstage than conventional stereo audio system.” It is not a brand new function, however there is a catch: You possibly can’t pair a brand new HomePod with an previous one. For a stereo pair to work, you will want two of the identical HomePods: a first-gen with a first-gen; mini with a mini; 2nd technology with a 2nd technology. It makes logical sense for the reason that two have totally different specs, however it might have been good for Apple to discover a strategy to make the 2 work properly collectively.

Foundry

Makes use of an Apple Watch chip as an alternative of an iPhone one

The unique HomePod used Apple’s A8 processor, which had debuted within the iPhone 6 just a few years earlier, as “the brains behind superior audio improvements.” When the HomePod mini arrived just a few years later, Apple used the S5 chip from an Apple Watch Sequence 5 to “obtain nice sound in such a compact design.” The second-generation HomePod additionally makes use of an Apple Watch chip, the S7 processor in Apple Watch Sequence 7, “to ship much more superior computational audio.” That is all properly and good, but it surely’s onerous to not assume that an A12 or A13 would offer a little bit of future proofing.

It nonetheless has a in-built energy twine.

One of many largest shortcomings of the unique HomePod was the built-in energy cable, primarily as a result of individuals naturally tried to unplug it and typically ended up ruining their audio system. Apple could have modified the connector to forestall that from occurring, however primarily based on the photographs, the HomePod nonetheless has the identical energy twine completely hooked up to the again of the machine. A transfer to a magnetic connector just like the 24-inch iMac would have been a pleasant enchancment.

Foundry

Helps Wi-Fi slower than iPhone 6

It is slightly unusual that the brand new HomePod nonetheless has Bluetooth 5 as an alternative of 5.3 (as discovered on new Macs and iPhones), but it surely really has slower Wi-Fi than the unique mannequin. In accordance with the technical specs, the primary HomePod supported 802.11ac, higher often called Wi-Fi 5, whereas the newer HomePod makes use of Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n). Possibly it is an excessive amount of to ask for Wi-Fi 6E when the brand new iPhones do not even help it, however we’re stunned to see the brand new HomePod use a Wi-Fi customary as previous because the iPhone 4.

The audio specs appear to be inferior.

This is the weirder factor: Based mostly on audio specs, the brand new HomePod is not practically pretty much as good as the unique mannequin. Whereas it certainly “delivers next-level acoustics,” as Apple claims, a fast comparability of the tech specs reveals two much less horn-loaded tweeters (5 vs. seven) and microphones (4 vs. six). In fact, all audio system and microphones should not created equal, and audio processing counts for lots. We’re certain Apple will get equal or higher audio with fewer audio system and microphones, but it surely’s bizarre that Apple did not really say the HomePod 2 is healthier, and even weirder that the previous HomePod is outwardly superior to the brand new one on paper. .