KGI Reports That Apple Is Mulling A "Low-Cost Version" Of HomePod That May Help The Sales

Multiple recent reports were saying that HomePod had poor market reception. A new report from KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo seems to agree the matt...

Multiple recent reports were saying that HomePod had poor market reception. A new report from KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo seems to agree the matter, he suggests that Apple could sell 2-2.5 million HomePods across all of 2018, with a million of those from first month pent-up demand, so Apple is "mulling" a "low-cost version" of the HomePod that may help sales. Read more to find out details.

Kuo said the HomePod's high price tag "could undermine demand despite excellent sound quality." On the other hand, because Siri provides an "uninspiring user experience" compared to its competitors, and the "underlying concerns" in Apple's development of artificial intelligence, which explains why Apple's HomePod faced lackluster sales.

It's been six years since Apple introduced Siri to the market, which was way ahead of the firm's major competitors. The massive population of iOS and macOS users is also conducive to the promotion of the voice assistant function. However, we note that for most users worldwide, Siri is not a must-have function, and Apple has not yet become a leading brand in the AI voice assistant market. We also note that HomePod has not added support for new languages in the device since launch, suggesting Apple is facing challenges in AI/voice assistant development spanning the globe; this will cap the shipments momentum of HomePod.

Sure, most people not happy with HomePod high cost, Kuo says a low-priced HomePod could provide a somewhat boost to sales. However, the analyst also claimed that Apple needs to improve Siri, support more languages, and make other improvements to dominant smart speaker markets. At present, HomePod was only in English markets.