Apple’s HomePod gets a $50 price cut

The HomePod got a healthy little price drop today, bringing Apple's premium smart speaker down to $299. Announced in mid-2017 and released in early-2018, the Siri-powered product brought a very Apple approach to the category dominated by Amazon and Google, with premium sound and design at a very premium price of $349.

The $50 price drop, first noted by 9 to 5 Mac, puts the product under $300 - though it's still pretty steep, so far as the category goes. The product got an even steeper discount to $249 from a number of third-party retailers over the holiday. Apple has confirmed with TechCrunch that this price cut is a permanent one.

$299 was formerly the refurbished price for the device through Apple. That's since dropped to $259, though both versions of the HomePod are currently sold out on the site. All of this, naturally, has led to speculation that a sequel could be on the way.

HomePod 2 rumors have been swirling around for some time now, but we haven't had too much insight on that front, beyond a a few fun recently discovered patents that bring more functionality to the speaker's top display.