The new smart speaker is built like a « tank, » which is a good because it’s almost impossible to repair on your own, the iFixit teams discovers.
The new smart speaker is built like a « tank, » which is a good because it’s almost impossible to repair on your own, the iFixit teams discovers.
You know something is durable when it takes a hacksaw for the iFixit team to tear it down.
Such was the case for the dissection of Apple’s newly-released HomePod, a voice-activated wireless speaker and a whole new product category for the gadget giant.
iFixit found all sorts of interesting little tidbits inside, once it finally got in: tweeters and conductive screw posts and a beefy subwoofer, oh my! You can click here for its detailed report .
But here’s the gist: First, the device is « built like a tank. Durability shouldn’t be an issue, » iFixit said. And second, the team gave it a « reparability » score of 1 out of 10, with 10 the easiest to repair.
« Even though it looks like there ought to be a nondestructive way inside, we failed to decode it, » the report concludes. « Without a repair manual, your odds of success are slim. »
And now we all understand why the repair price for the HomePod is so steep: The device costs $350. Repairing it costs $279.
« This ain’t easy, But if we got it wrong, by all means, share the magic procedure! » iFixit wrote.
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