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Holy crap this is a mess. I'm assuming this is a 1/10 because their scale doesn't go down to 0. $350 for a device you effectively cannot repair without ruining

Holy crap this is a mess. I'm assuming this is a 1/10 because their scale doesn't go down to 0. $350 for a device you effectively cannot repair without ruining some part of it is absolutely astonishing. To anybody that says "so what?", if any part of this dies for whatever reason, not only are you almost completely out of your money, there's no way this thing is actually getting repaired by Apple. At best most of the components end up going through a recycler. At worst, that's 5lbs of added landfill. Speakers are something that NEED to be repaired. It's one of the non-solid state technologies that we haven't found a better alternative for, and are some of the most fragile parts in systems today. These drivers/cones WILL wear out over time and the only thing you're going to be able to do is buy a new unit.

agildehaus 9y ago
In comparison, a Google Home gets an 8/10. Echo a 7/10. Apple plain doesn't care about repairability.
- dawnerd 9y ago
  That was made clear when they try to shut down unofficial repair shops. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nz85y7/apple-is-lobbying-against-your-right-to-repair-iphones-new-york-state-records-confirm https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nz85y7/apple-is-l...
  - dpkonofa 9y ago
    They never tried to shut down unofficial repair shops and you're doing a disservice to the whole idea behind "right to repair" by saying that. The only thing Apple has publicly done is disagreed with and lobbied against the current "right-to-repair" legislation that's going on. They have publicly stated that they're not against the concept of people repairing their own devices but that what they're actually against is the requirement that they provide, without cost, the tools and instructions necessary for a third-party to perform the repair. Apple only cares that the repairs are done correctly. They don't care who repairs it as long as the repair doesn't cause the mistaken perception that the phone itself is faulty or poorly manufactured. They allow any third-party repair center to get certified to be an authorized Apple service center. To ignore that huge chunk of the reasons why is to be disingenuous or ignorant. They have a completely valid stance about the current bills.
Yabood 9y ago
I honestly don't understand this argument. I mean for a laptop or something upgradable, sure. But realistically speaking, how soon will you need to replace any of the drivers, and by the time you need to replace them, is it really worth it to replace them? I think somethings are just not worth repairing, and the HomePod is a perfect example.
- grogenaut 9y ago
  To some of us, popping 2 screws and replacing a speaker with one off of amazon or ebay is just what we do after breakfast on a weekend. There's no reason major parts of this $300+ device can't be repaired except that apple prefers you buy a new one. Same as with the batteries in the phones. It's a complete waste of their customer's money (and thus time), as well as terrible for the environment. Heck there are several little connectors in there that could come loose, you can't get at those either. I can replace the screen on my e-ink kindle for $25, instead of $100 for a new one. Have done this about 8 times (lots of kindles lots of backpacking). There's literally no reason that you can't get into this home pod easily except apple doesn't want you to. Looking at the design, there is no way you could argue that apple doesn't have the time or chops to make a repairable device. That thing is gorgeously made and has tons of completely custom components. They chose to do this.
  - IntronExon 9y ago
    What percentage of consumers fit that bill? .1%? .01%? Less? It’s almost as if highly mainstream products are not made with the technical hobbyist in mind.
    - grogenaut 9y ago
      Look at desktop PCs. Millions sold, almost all with swappable parts. There's a difference with "not made with x in mind" and "purposefully difficult to do anything with". If we want engineers who can build these products in the future it also helps that they can tear them apart as kids. Again is that what you actually want to reward? Do you want to be able to use your IoT device a week after the startup goes under or apple decides that it's time to sell everyone a new $500 speaker?
bentruyman 9y ago
> Speakers are something that NEED to be repaired Is that true? If there's one component that's stood the test of time in my home theater setup, it's been the speakers. I've purchased a ton of speakers in my time and I'm still rocking some 15 year old Kenwood speakers in the living room.
- electricslpnsld 9y ago
  > I'm still rocking some 15 year old Kenwood speakers in the living room. I swiped a record cabinet from the 1960s out of my grandma's basement when she moved into a retirement home. To my surprise, after replacing the needle it still works and sounds great! These are 50 year old speakers stored in terrible conditions, yet they still work.
- pathartl 9y ago
  And that's fine, I have some Dick Sequerra MET-11's that have been around for many years before I was born and I only had to repair the tweeters two years ago. However these were high quality expensive speakers when they came out. Cheap drivers were not used. Looking at the HomePod and the processing hardware and their margins, there's no way the drivers they are putting in this thing are any better than what you'd find in a cheapo HTIB system. The way I see it, these speakers are great for somebody that wants to remain in the Apple ecosystem and has $350 to drop on something that's going to be obsolete and incompatible in a few years. So yeah maybe these drivers won't need to be replaced, but that's only because the software driving them has a shorter life expectancy.
  - danieldk 9y ago
    Indeed, as pointed out by the Accidental Tech podcast and others, even if the speakers hold up, what is going to kill it for longevity is the lack of a line-in. It is very unlikely that HomePod's version of AirPlay is going to be supported for more that 10 years. If the device had a line-in, it would still serve as a fine speaker beyond that. But now it is practically useless, even when you are in the Apple ecosystem, once Apple deprecates AirPlay 2. In the meanwhile, I enjoyed the Altec Lansing speakers that my parents bought in the 70ies for quite some years. (We were interested in the HomePod, but the lack of a line-in, and low-reparability has made the choice difficult. Added to that, I don't really like that it has so many Mics. 2025's Apple could be 2015's Lenovo, there is no guarantee that they will keep focusing on security & privacy, nor that they will resist government surveillance.)
mikecsh 9y ago
> Speakers are something that NEED to be repaired. I get the landfill argument, but I have not needed to have any of the speakers I have owned over the last 25 years repaired.
martin_ 9y ago
Though this thing does not seem remotely repair friendly, the guide looks wrong. There's no need to cut through the mesh and their video (in the same guide) even shows it: https://youtu.be/ArH41WyUt28?t=62 https://youtu.be/ArH41WyUt28?t=62 edit: the fact they have to use an ultrasonic cutter next in the video is insane and makes no sense. Is it possible that iFixit is simply missing the correct way to open this? edit2: Summary of the video concludes that "Even though there looks to be an easy way inside, we failed to decode it. Without a repair manual, your odds of success are slim". Hence the 1/10, which makes sense.
- imglorp 9y ago
  Or perhaps the official apple repair, if under contract, is to hand you a new unit and throw the old one into the melter? There's no storage on the thing beyond its own id, is there?
  - martin_ 9y ago
    It has 16GB of flash storage, who knows what it's for. I agree though, likely gets sent off to be recycled and the storage destroyed.
robin_reala 9y ago
If you watch the video review, the one point it got was for robustness and quality of build which they thought should preclude the need for repair work for a while.
jws 9y ago
…drivers/cones WILL wear out over time… Maybe, but it is a version 1.0 device in a new market for Apple. It will be functionally obsolete by the time it wears out. I mean this in the kindest sort of way. Consider a version 1 iPad. I have two or three of them stored somewhere. They were great for a couple years then got completely eclipsed by even greater things once Apple figured out where to take the product category. Of the five version 1 iPads I can remember family members owning, I don't think any of them ever needed a repair, they just lived their quiet service lives and finally slipped the surly bonds of tech.
KozmoNau7 9y ago
>These drivers/cones WILL wear out over time Modern drivers with butyl rubber surrounds don't really wear out, they last decades easily.
dpkonofa 9y ago
Since you can't adjust the volume of the speaker to a level where it would blow the speakers inside, when are you realistically going to NEED to repair this? I get that it's nice to have the comfort of thinking you're going to save yourself $150 at some point in the future to repair a piece of this but, with electronics that are this complicated, it's not a simple task to actually do this repair, as we see here.

agildehaus 9y ago

In comparison, a Google Home gets an 8/10. Echo a 7/10. Apple plain doesn't care about repairability.

dawnerd 9y ago
That was made clear when they try to shut down unofficial repair shops. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nz85y7/apple-is-lobbying-against-your-right-to-repair-iphones-new-york-state-records-confirm https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nz85y7/apple-is-l...
- dpkonofa 9y ago
  They never tried to shut down unofficial repair shops and you're doing a disservice to the whole idea behind "right to repair" by saying that. The only thing Apple has publicly done is disagreed with and lobbied against the current "right-to-repair" legislation that's going on. They have publicly stated that they're not against the concept of people repairing their own devices but that what they're actually against is the requirement that they provide, without cost, the tools and instructions necessary for a third-party to perform the repair. Apple only cares that the repairs are done correctly. They don't care who repairs it as long as the repair doesn't cause the mistaken perception that the phone itself is faulty or poorly manufactured. They allow any third-party repair center to get certified to be an authorized Apple service center. To ignore that huge chunk of the reasons why is to be disingenuous or ignorant. They have a completely valid stance about the current bills.

Yabood 9y ago

I honestly don't understand this argument. I mean for a laptop or something upgradable, sure. But realistically speaking, how soon will you need to replace any of the drivers, and by the time you need to replace them, is it really worth it to replace them? I think somethings are just not worth repairing, and the HomePod is a perfect example.

grogenaut 9y ago
To some of us, popping 2 screws and replacing a speaker with one off of amazon or ebay is just what we do after breakfast on a weekend. There's no reason major parts of this $300+ device can't be repaired except that apple prefers you buy a new one. Same as with the batteries in the phones. It's a complete waste of their customer's money (and thus time), as well as terrible for the environment. Heck there are several little connectors in there that could come loose, you can't get at those either. I can replace the screen on my e-ink kindle for $25, instead of $100 for a new one. Have done this about 8 times (lots of kindles lots of backpacking). There's literally no reason that you can't get into this home pod easily except apple doesn't want you to. Looking at the design, there is no way you could argue that apple doesn't have the time or chops to make a repairable device. That thing is gorgeously made and has tons of completely custom components. They chose to do this.
- IntronExon 9y ago
  What percentage of consumers fit that bill? .1%? .01%? Less? It’s almost as if highly mainstream products are not made with the technical hobbyist in mind.
  - grogenaut 9y ago
    Look at desktop PCs. Millions sold, almost all with swappable parts. There's a difference with "not made with x in mind" and "purposefully difficult to do anything with". If we want engineers who can build these products in the future it also helps that they can tear them apart as kids. Again is that what you actually want to reward? Do you want to be able to use your IoT device a week after the startup goes under or apple decides that it's time to sell everyone a new $500 speaker?

bentruyman 9y ago

> Speakers are something that NEED to be repaired Is that true? If there's one component that's stood the test of time in my home theater setup, it's been the speakers. I've purchased a ton of speakers in my time and I'm still rocking some 15 year old Kenwood speakers in the living room.

electricslpnsld 9y ago
> I'm still rocking some 15 year old Kenwood speakers in the living room. I swiped a record cabinet from the 1960s out of my grandma's basement when she moved into a retirement home. To my surprise, after replacing the needle it still works and sounds great! These are 50 year old speakers stored in terrible conditions, yet they still work.
pathartl 9y ago
And that's fine, I have some Dick Sequerra MET-11's that have been around for many years before I was born and I only had to repair the tweeters two years ago. However these were high quality expensive speakers when they came out. Cheap drivers were not used. Looking at the HomePod and the processing hardware and their margins, there's no way the drivers they are putting in this thing are any better than what you'd find in a cheapo HTIB system. The way I see it, these speakers are great for somebody that wants to remain in the Apple ecosystem and has $350 to drop on something that's going to be obsolete and incompatible in a few years. So yeah maybe these drivers won't need to be replaced, but that's only because the software driving them has a shorter life expectancy.
- danieldk 9y ago
  Indeed, as pointed out by the Accidental Tech podcast and others, even if the speakers hold up, what is going to kill it for longevity is the lack of a line-in. It is very unlikely that HomePod's version of AirPlay is going to be supported for more that 10 years. If the device had a line-in, it would still serve as a fine speaker beyond that. But now it is practically useless, even when you are in the Apple ecosystem, once Apple deprecates AirPlay 2. In the meanwhile, I enjoyed the Altec Lansing speakers that my parents bought in the 70ies for quite some years. (We were interested in the HomePod, but the lack of a line-in, and low-reparability has made the choice difficult. Added to that, I don't really like that it has so many Mics. 2025's Apple could be 2015's Lenovo, there is no guarantee that they will keep focusing on security & privacy, nor that they will resist government surveillance.)

mikecsh 9y ago

> Speakers are something that NEED to be repaired. I get the landfill argument, but I have not needed to have any of the speakers I have owned over the last 25 years repaired.

martin_ 9y ago

Though this thing does not seem remotely repair friendly, the guide looks wrong. There's no need to cut through the mesh and their video (in the same guide) even shows it: https://youtu.be/ArH41WyUt28?t=62 https://youtu.be/ArH41WyUt28?t=62 edit: the fact they have to use an ultrasonic cutter next in the video is insane and makes no sense. Is it possible that iFixit is simply missing the correct way to open this? edit2: Summary of the video concludes that "Even though there looks to be an easy way inside, we failed to decode it. Without a repair manual, your odds of success are slim". Hence the 1/10, which makes sense.

imglorp 9y ago
Or perhaps the official apple repair, if under contract, is to hand you a new unit and throw the old one into the melter? There's no storage on the thing beyond its own id, is there?
- martin_ 9y ago
  It has 16GB of flash storage, who knows what it's for. I agree though, likely gets sent off to be recycled and the storage destroyed.

robin_reala 9y ago

If you watch the video review, the one point it got was for robustness and quality of build which they thought should preclude the need for repair work for a while.

jws 9y ago

…drivers/cones WILL wear out over time… Maybe, but it is a version 1.0 device in a new market for Apple. It will be functionally obsolete by the time it wears out. I mean this in the kindest sort of way. Consider a version 1 iPad. I have two or three of them stored somewhere. They were great for a couple years then got completely eclipsed by even greater things once Apple figured out where to take the product category. Of the five version 1 iPads I can remember family members owning, I don't think any of them ever needed a repair, they just lived their quiet service lives and finally slipped the surly bonds of tech.

KozmoNau7 9y ago

>These drivers/cones WILL wear out over time Modern drivers with butyl rubber surrounds don't really wear out, they last decades easily.

dpkonofa 9y ago

Since you can't adjust the volume of the speaker to a level where it would blow the speakers inside, when are you realistically going to NEED to repair this? I get that it's nice to have the comfort of thinking you're going to save yourself $150 at some point in the future to repair a piece of this but, with electronics that are this complicated, it's not a simple task to actually do this repair, as we see here.