Smart home devices, voice assistants in particular, have been extremely popular devices among consumers since the inception of Amazon Alexa.

Soon other hubs were launched to compete with the Alexa devices like Google’s home hub and the HomePod from Apple. The electronic device giant released the second version of its HomePod earlier this year.

However, unlike the first-generation smart home device, the second-generation hub contains a faster processor, thread radio, temperature and humidity sensing and is Matter standard compatible meaning that any smart home device that is also Matter compatible can be connected to the HomePod. While that is only a few devices today, it will soon be many more.

The HomePod also comes with Siri as the smart home voice assistant allowing users to set multiple timers, check the weather, put things on a calendar and get news.

The HomePod includes the Apple dual core applications processor and 1 GB of mobile DRAM for higher levels of processing power compared to the original generation.

The following is a partial deep dive into the Apple HomePod 2nd Gen conducted by TechInsights.

Summary

• No display
• 1 GB LPDDR4
• No camera

Released: February 2023

Price: $299

Availability: Worldwide

Target market: Consumer

Main board

Inside the Apple HomePod 2nd generation smart home hub is the following electronic components:

• Texas Instruments’ two-bit bus transceiver, 1 amp step-down DC-DC converter and 6 amp synchronous buck converter
• Nexperia’s single two-inpug AND gate and voltage level transceiver
• Onsemi’s 250 mA LDO regulator
• Qorvo’s SPDT RF switch
• Skyworks’ 2.4 GHz front-end module
• Nordic Semiconductor’s Bluetooth 5.3 LE/Thread/Zigbee SoC
• Bosch Sensortec’s three-axis MEMS accelerometer
• Synaptics’ capacitive touchscreen controller
• Knowles MEMS microphone

(Learn more about RF and wireless chips on Globalspec.com)

Processor board

The processor board includes devices needed to operate the smart home hub like SK Hynix’s 32 GB 3D NAND flash memory, Apple’s 64-bit dual-core applications processor and power management IC and ST Microelectronics’ DC-DCD converter.

(Learn more about power management ICs on Globalspec.com)

Audio board

The audio board contains the sensors, microphones and audio components for operation of the voice assistant inside the Apple HomePod. The electronic components include:

• Nexperia’s two-bit bidirectional voltage level translator and dual buffer
• Knowles’ MEMS microphone
• Analog Devices’ audio converter
• TI’s stereo audio ADC, 5 amp step-down DC/DC converter and current shunt monitor
• Renesas’ programmable mixed-signal array

(Learn more about sensor chips on Globalspec.com)

Major components

• $32.96 — Woofer subsystem (Qty:1)
• $19.39 — 64-bit dual-core application processor — Apple (Qty:1)
• $10.17 — Power supply subsystem — Solum (Qty:1)
• $7.71 — Wi-Fi 4/Bluetooth 5.0 — (Qty:1)
• $5.28 — 1 GB mobile LPDDR4X SDRAM — SK Hynix (Qty:1)
• $3.79 — Six-layer buildup FR4 (Qty:1)
• $3.33 — Small active LED (Qty: 37)
• $3.15 — U1 UWB module (Qty:1)
• $2.70 — Power management — Apple (Qty:1)
• $2.03 — Class-D audio amplifier — TI (Qty:1)