Photo: Ksenija Toyechkina (Shutterstock)
Apple’s HomePod had a short and bumpy life. Reviewers praised its audio quality, but praised its smart features, making its $350 price difficult to recommend to most people. Even with Apple dropping the price to $299, too many people think this speaker isn’t worth it at all. Some of these people may have also told you to sell your Apple stock in 1997 because the HomePod is now appreciating somehow.
How much do Apple HomePods cost?
The first time I saw this message from The Verge, in turn, due to this tweet From 9to5Mac EIC Chance Miller. Miller’s tweet has an eBay page listing a factory-sealed Space Grey HomePod, wait for it, $649.99.
The Verge presumably scoured their storage room for sealed HomePods, then looked at various HomePod eBay listings. On average, they found the HomePods to sell for $375 — while that’s far less than the HomePod mentioned in Miller’s tweet, keep in mind that this is the average of all HomePods currently sold on the platform. This includes the HomePods in the box intact, as well as well-functioning speakers without the packaging.
Most HomePod users probably won’t keep the speakers unturned in the box, but that doesn’t change much. Even after removing these outliers, the average HomePod is still $350. If you bought the speaker during Apple’s $299 period, or if you found a discounted speaker through a third-party retailer, you could monetize the HomePod (which, by the way, no one, not even Apple, thought about it before).
Why are Apple HomePods worth more now?
Why these things are selling so well is anyone’s guess. The Verge offers theories such as Apple’s history, the HomePod’s solid acoustics, and that Siri is an asset in the smart home. I’m not sure if I bought the last one, but the first two points are very important in my book. HomePod Yes A great speaker, especially for Apple Music and home theater via Apple TV 4K, and now that Apple has discontinued it, fans of the company may now consider it a collectible.
Whatever the reason, the HomePod’s price hike is still impressive. Most tech products don’t appreciate in value, but want depreciation to be limited. It’s true that Apple products tend to depreciate more slowly than other technologies, but we rarely see this happening. You certainly can’t buy a HomePod mini for more than what you’re paying for.
[The Verge]
