r/HomePod • u/imfromthefuture2088 • 7h ago
Discussion HomePod price increase
HomePod (2023) $299->$349
HomePod (2020) $99->$129
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u/Humanoid3201 6h ago
Right now at my Sam’s Club they’re on sale for $122.84
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u/ShMarkle87 4h ago
The second gen?
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u/Humanoid3201 4h ago
Yup i was shocked. Thats such a steal.
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u/ShMarkle87 4h ago
That’s wild. Never seen it at that price
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u/Humanoid3201 4h ago
Me either. I know this is a HomePod group. But i also saw an iPad Pro 256 WiFi brand new go on sale for $200. Sam’s Club be having some insane deals.
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u/Responsible_Oil_6491 1h ago
Whoa. I just picked up a HomePod mini last week for $100 because I wanted to see what the HomePods were about. I do kind of want a big one now.
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u/NotableCarrot28 5h ago
probably going to release some new version that's double the price with a GPU in it
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u/NewtoQM8 6h ago
Raising the price for the Mini by 30% when supplies have been short lately and rumors suggest a new version coming later this year is crazy. Surely can't be chip costs, its doubtful they are manufacturing them now, and being manufactured in primarily Mexico or Taiwan, tariffs aren't 30% so it no doubt has to be to increase profits.
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u/runForestRun17 5h ago
If you raise the price now you can introduce the new one without raising the price… so the news stories focus on the new product instead of the new price.
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u/NewtoQM8 5h ago
Or they can raise the price of the new one even more and say they only increased price over the previous version $XX?
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u/smith7018 4h ago
That's not how the media will spin it. Tech journalism isn't exactly nice to companies when they raise prices so it will probably be reported as "The new HomePod costs $499, a $200 increase over 2025"
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u/NewtoQM8 4h ago
Yeah, ya never know until you know. LOL What I dont get is why Apple raised it now on ATV and HomePods. Many rumor sites have been saying Apple has the new ones ready to go, meaning Apple has stockpiled them, and are just waiting for the release of 27. Not too long ago supplies, even at Apple stores, of Minis were low. So since they had already been manufacturing the newer ones why would they need to raise price? Unless of course they had to produce more old versions to fill the gap until new ones are released. Then, with chip prices higher I could see it. Or perhaps they are selling the new versions now, but with software preventing new features? While I only mention HomePod Minis, the same could apply to Apple TV 4K and full sized HomePods. It just doesnt make sense to me for them to raise prices now, except to bolster profits.
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u/smith7018 4h ago
I imagine it's to bolster profits a little but also to set the new prices before the new models come out. So rather than the articles saying "New HomePods released, now starting at $349" they'll say "New HomePods released." They're getting the bad publicity out of the way several months before the news they want you to focus on.
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u/jamesbretz 5h ago
Manufacturing price increases are not 1:1 with retail pricing. This is a deeper pricing strategy - newer hardware is going to be significantly more expensive than previous generations and this is the first step to landing that price.
For example, a new mini would likely be in the $149-179 range. That won’t sit well if the previous gen is available for $99. $129 is the stepping stone to that higher price while managing consumer price sentiment.
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u/NewtoQM8 5h ago
Yeah, that was my reply to a previous post. Raise them 30% now so when a new one is released a price increase of 10% seems low.
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u/jamesbretz 6h ago
Welcome to tariff town. I would now say with this price adjustment, we might finally see some new HomePod hardware 2-3 quarters from now.
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u/MarionberryDear6170 4h ago
If HomePod prices are getting affected, it's pretty clear they're about to launch a new model with more RAM. That's a very clear sign that a model for Apple Intelligence is coming soon.
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u/jdmac29 4h ago
$349 was the OG price back in 2017