HomePod, Apple’s Siri-powered wireless speaker, won’t be arriving next month after all.
The company told CNBC on Friday that it’s delaying the HomePod launch until next year.
“We can’t wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple’s breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers,” Apple said.
“We’ll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018,” it added.
Apple’s employees in China and California have been testing HomePod for weeks now. Apple has also released a few HomePod firmware updates.
HomePod is compatible with iPhone 5s and later, running iOS 11.
Originally announced during WWDC in June, the $349 wireless speaker was supposed to land on store shelves in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia this December ahead of the important holiday shopping season before seeing a wider rollout across 2018.
Before HomePod, Apple also delayed AirPods last year, arguing it doesn’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready whilst providing the same “need a little more time” explanation.
Were you planning on buying HomePod next month? And, would you still be willing to get one now that you know it’s been delayed until some time in 2018?
Sound off in the comments!