HomePod Touch exposed, Apple won't stop until it hits the wall.

In the field of smartphones and tablets, Apple, which has been "always imitated, never surpassed", can be regarded as an undisputed innovation benchmark. However, in the smart speaker market, it's Apple's turn to learn from its competitors.

Recently, a source revealed that Apple may launch a smart speaker with a screen called "HomePod Touch", and its price may be the same as that of the first-generation HomePod, which costs $350.

Interestingly, overseas tech media 9to5Mac believes that the high price won't hinder the success of the HomePod Touch, as its product positioning has undergone a fundamental change, thus avoiding the mistakes of the first-generation HomePod.

As one of Apple's worst products in the past decade, comparable to the MacBook's butterfly keyboard, the price of the first-generation HomePod dropped rapidly. It was soon discounted to $299 after its launch, and in the domestic market, there was even an offer where consumers could buy two for 3,000 yuan.

The failure of the first-generation HomePod lies in the fact that Apple at that time didn't understand the underlying logic of the smart speaker market and wrongly bet on sound quality. The first-generation HomePod, which was unveiled alongside the iPhone X in the fall of 2017, actually adhered to Apple's innovation philosophy, which is not to blindly pursue "firsts" but to refine mature technologies into a revolutionary user experience.

As a latecomer, Apple chose a different path for the HomePod from the Amazon Echo and Google Home at that time, focusing more on sound quality rather than intelligence. The A8 chip, paired with a 1GB RAM + 16GB ROM configuration, which was unique in the smart speaker field at that time, along with a circular array of six microphones and a luxurious acoustic module consisting of seven tweeters at the bottom and one woofer at the top, made it not only the smart speaker with the best sound quality but also a product with good sound performance among all speakers in this price range.

However, human perception of music is highly subjective, which means that in many people's eyes, sound quality is closely related to something like a mystery. The problem is that audiophiles who focus on sound quality tend to choose traditional audio brands out of habit, while for ordinary consumers, the sound quality advantage of the first-generation HomePod is not easy to perceive, and the price is too high. In the end, the first-generation HomePod, which was neither high - end enough nor affordable, faded away, and Apple's attempt to revolutionize the smart speaker market with computational audio failed.

Learning from the lessons of the first-generation HomePod, the HomePod mini and the second-generation HomePod have both returned to the design ideas of mainstream smart speakers. For example, the second-generation HomePod is equipped with the S7 chip used in the Apple Watch Series 7, while the first-generation HomePod used the A8, the same as the iPhone 6. The performance of these two products, which are five years apart, is not very different.

So, the question is, can the HomePod Touch succeed by giving up its positioning as a music player and becoming a "visual controller" for smart homes? In fact, the emergence of smart speakers with screens is because manufacturers found that the inefficiency of voice interaction made smart speakers unable to shoulder the responsibility of being the central control of smart homes. To make up for the weakness of voice interaction, screens began to gradually appear in smart speaker products.

This screen enables smart speakers to undertake more functions such as audio - visual entertainment, video communication, and home monitoring, making it a mini home entertainment center and even a "small TV" outside the living room. However, the emergence of smart speakers with screens just shows that manufacturers admit the fact that voice interaction is still difficult to replace touch interaction in the short term.

Consumers have also found that if they really need a control center for home devices other than smartphones, why not choose a tablet? Following this idea, some manufacturers have launched products like the "companion device". After all, if consumers really have a demand for a "second screen" in the home scenario, the "companion device", which combines the features of a TV and a tablet, is far better than a smart speaker with a screen that combines a smart speaker and a tablet.

Ultimately, in terms of the smart home entrance, smart speakers are less convenient than mobile phones and less entertaining than the "companion device". A visual touch screen is not enough to solve the market positioning problem of the HomePod Touch. If Apple really wants to make a real smart home controller, the imagination space of a desktop robot may be much larger than that of a smart speaker with a screen.

Previously, the Xiaomi Smart Speaker Pro, the first Xiaomi product equipped with the "Super Xiaoai" large - model, quickly became popular and became a phenomenon - level product in the high - end market. This shows that consumers need products with context understanding, personalized recommendation, and even emotional interaction capabilities. Compared with simply controlling other devices, functions such as companionship and emergency response for the elderly and educational interaction and behavior guidance for children may better meet consumers' pain points.

From connecting devices to understanding people, this may be the future of smart speakers.

This article is from the WeChat official account “3eLife” (ID: IT - 3eLife), author: 3eLife, published by 36Kr with authorization.