Apple’s HomePod is hoping to gain the edge over other smart speakers with its superior sound quality. However, Amazon’s reportedly planning to fight back with its upcoming Echo standalone speaker refresh that will focus on a higher quality music experience.
According to Apple, its upcoming HomePod speaker will “reinvent the way we enjoy music” thanks to its seven-tweeter array, 4-inch woofer, and smart “spatial awareness” technology that lets it “read” its environment. (A patent published last week gave some indication of the smart tech Apple may be using to achieve this.)
Not to be outdone, a new report claims that the new Echo will also be “packing in several tweeters this time around, instead of just relying on one large tweeter and a woofer.” There’s no more detail on exactly what this will mean sound-wise, but if Amazon’s able to achieve comparable sound without raising its $180 Amazon Echo price point, that could be a blow for Apple.
Engadget‘s report also shares a few notes on the physical appearance of the next-gen Amazon Echo, which will reportedly be shorter and slimmer than the original model, “almost as if it were three or four Echo Dots stacked on top of each other.”
Amazon will additionally work to soften the design with rounded edges and a cloth-like covering.
Do you think that Apple will be able to challenge companies like Amazon and Google with its HomePod? Leave your comments below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
2 responses to “Amazon’s next Echo will bring better sound to beat HomePod”
“We’ve gotten away with sub-par audio for a while, but now since someone else is in the market who could rip us apart, we will need to put some effort in”. Seriously lazy of Amazon. The audio should have always been top notch because this product is sold as an external music speaker too.
I’m sure Amazon is going to have to wait until the HomePod starts shipping to find out what they are up against. The thing that makes the HomePod interesting is that it splits up the sound into a more stereo/surround with the multiple tweeters in a circular array. While OmniDirectional speakers is nothing new, having the abilities to split up the sound in one box and have spatial awareness is. I doubt they are going to be able to come up with something that will be less expensive to achieve the same end result, so whatever Amazon comes out with, in order to sound substantially better, it’s going to have to be more expensive, or they are going to have to make a lower profit margin.
The thing is that Apple’s obviously trying to sell to current Apple Music subscribers, people that might want to sign up for Apple Music. We don’t know if Apple is going to be able to play music from other streaming services, if it does, then that will open up Apple’s potential demographic.
The other thing that people fail to realize is that some people might buy more than one of these smart speaker because of their related eco systems that they connect to. Does any single smart speaker connect to ever eco-system? I don’t think so. I can see someone buying more than one device and using them to connect to their ecosystems, which just makes it that much more confusing for the customer.